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Purchased   by  the    Hamill    Missionary   Fund. 


BV  2390  .S8  1894a 
Student  Volunteer  Movement 
for  Foreign  Missions  1894 
The  student  missionary 


MAR  2S)  1915 


'  '    •■'.  *4    it.' 
The  Evangelization  of  the  World  in  this   Generation. 


<^ 


THE  STUDENT  MISSIONARY 
ENTERPRISE 


Addresses  and  Discussions  of  tlie  Second  International 
y  Convention  of  the 

STUDENT  VOLUNTEER  MOVEMENT 

FOR   FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

HELD  AT  DETROIT,  MICH  ,  FEB   28  TO  MAR.  4,  1894. 


EDITED  BY 

MAX  WOOD   MOORHEAD 


Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 

New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Publishers  of  Evangelical  Literature. 


THE  STUDENT   MISSIONARY   ENTERPRISE. 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


Early  in  the  current  year  an  announcement  was  issued  by  the  Ex- 
ecutive Committee  of  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement  for  Foreign 
Missions  that  a  Second  International  Convention  would  be  held  at 
Detroit,  Michigan,  beginning  Wednesday  night,  February  28,  and 
closing  Sunday  night,  March  4,  1894.  The  purpose  was  to  bring 
together,  as  in  the  memorable  Cleveland  Convention  in  1891,  repre- 
sentatives of  the  missionary  organizations  in  the  churches,  institutions 
of  learning,  and  young  people's  societies,  throughout  North  America, 
with  prominent  missionaries  from  foreign  lands,  to  consider  the  great 
work  of  speedy  and  world-wide  evangelization,  and  to  afford  to  student 
volunteers  the  advantages  of  information,  counsel,  and  spiritual  stimu- 
lus, which  such  an  occasion  would  be  sure  to  offer. 

A  call  for  special  prayer  for  the  Holy  Spirit's  control  of  the  Con- 
vention was  issued.  From  scores  of  missionary  stations  in  many  and 
widely  distant  fields,  as  well  as  from  all  parts  of  Christian  lands,  were 
received  earnest  and  hearty  responses  to  this  call ;  and  the  Lord's  gra- 
cious answer  to  petitions  which  had  been  offered  was  very  evident  as 
the  days  of  the  session  succeeded  each  other. 

One  thousand  and  eighty- two  student  delegates,  from  two  hundred 
and  ninety-four  institutions  of  learning  in  the  United  States  and  Canada, 
were  in  attendance.  Thirty-two  States  and  five  Provinces  were  repre- 
sented, delegates  having  come  from  the  north  as  far  as  Manitoba  and 
from  the  south  as  far  as  Texas,  from  the  east  as  far  as  the  Maritime 
Provinces  and  from  the  west  as  far  as  California.  A  larger  student 
body  assembled  in  Detroit  than  ever  assembled  on  a  similar  occasion 
in  the  world's  history  of  missionary  effort.  Among  those  who  were 
registered  were  fifty-four  ofticial  representatives  of  the  foreign  mission- 
ary boards  and  societies,  sixty-three  foreign  missionaries  from  all  por- 
tions of  the  globe,  besides  delegates  from  young  people's  societies, 
Young  Men's  and  Young  Women's  Chi'istian  Associations,  college 
professors,  ministers,  and  evangelists. 

It  is  greatly  regretted  that  the  entire  class  of  Denominational  Con- 
ferences has  been  omitted  fi-om  this  book,  owing  to  the  fact  that  it 
was  impossible  to  obtain  skilled  stenographers  for  the  various  sessions 
which  were  held  simultaneously.     The  Conference  on  Papal  Lands  has 


Vlll.  PEEFACE. 

also  been  omitted,  owing  to  the  unexpected  absence  of  a  stenographer 
especially  engaged.  Out  of  the  thirteen  Sectional  Conferences  which 
are  included  in  Part  Second,  the  rejDorts  of  four  are  incomplete,  owing 
to  the  fragmentary  character  of  transcript  notes  submitted;  hence, 
of  necessity,  many  thoughtful  addresses  of  practical  value  have  been 
entirely  omitted,  while  the  editor  has  very  reluctantly  abridged  others 
which  had  been  inadequately  reported. 

In  addition  to  the  decisions  for  missionary  service  declared  at  the 
Convention  by  more  than  a  score  of  delegates,  there  have  come  letters 
from  universities,  theological  seminaries  and  colleges,  east,  west,  north 
and  south,  which  indicate  that  the  Convention  was  truly  extraordinary 
in  its  fruitfulness.  A  few  facts,  among  many,  here  quoted,  will  indicate 
some  practical  and  spiritual  results : 

"  Circle  of  men  meet  weekly  to  consider  the  work  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions." 

"  Our  Institution  has  just  decided  to  support  a  man  in  the  foreign 
field." 

"  The  Reading  Circle  has  been  increased  by  thirty  men  ;  intelligent 
enthusiasm  has  been  aroused  by  the  Convention." 

"  Five  new  volunteers ;  spiritual  quickening  all  through  the  Uni- 
versity." 

"  New  volunteers ;  revival  of  missionary  interest." 

The  hearty  co-operation  of  Secretaries  of  Missionary  Boards  and 
Societies  of  the  various  evangelical  churches  of  this  continent  made 
the  Convention  noteworthy  as  an  example  of  that  true  Christian  unity 
which  exists  between  all  true  followers  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  The  key-note 
of  the  Convention  was  "  the  enduement  of  the  Holy  Ghost  for  service." 
Whether  in  apj^ealing  for  workers  in  needy  fields,  or  recounting 
with  gratitude  what  God  had  wrought;  or  speaking  of  work  to  be 
undertaken  in  nations  long  civilized  or  in  the  dejith  of  ignorance  and 
barbarism,  the  supreme  qualification  and  preparation,  oft  rejDeated  and 
forcibly  emphasized,  was  the  filling  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  earnest 
testimonies  and  appeals  of  those  who  have  already  tasted  of  this  un- 
speakable gift  could  not  but  awaken  that  longing  which  can  only  be 
satisfied  by  Him  who,  "  in  that  last  day,  that  great  day  of  the  feast," 
said,  "  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  me  and  drink."  "  This 
spake  He  of  the  Spirit,  which  they  that  believe  on  Him  should  re- 
ceive." 

May  God  use  to  His  own  glory  and  for  the  blessing  of  mankind 
this  endeavor  to  extend  His  kingdom. 

Max  Wood  Moorhead. 

New  York, 

June  2,  1894. 


CONTENTS. 


PART    I. 

GENERAL    PROCEEDINGS. 

FIKST   DAY. 

Evening  Session.  vkoe 

Address  of  Welcome 1 

The  Rev.  Donald  B.  McLauren. 
Response  to  Welcome 2 

Mr.  J.  R.  Mott,  Chairman. 
Paul,  the  Great  Missionary  Example 2-18 

Mr.  Robert  E.  Speer. 

SECOND    DAY. 

Morning  Session. 

The  Intellectual  Preparation  of  the  Volunteer  19-26 
The  Rev.  Judson  Smith,  D.D. 

The  Practical  Preparation  of  the  Volunteer  .    .  26-32 
The  Rev.  H.  P.  Beach. 

The  Spiritual  Preparation  of  the  Volunteer    .    .    .  32-39 
The  Rev.  J.  Hudson  Taylor. 

General  Preparation, 

The  Rev.  John  M.  Worrall,  D.D 39 

Mr.  Jameson 39 

The  Rev.  R.  Thackwell,  D.D 40 

The  Rev.  A.  T.  Pierson,  D.D 41 

Mr.  W.  Spencer  Walton 42 

The  Rev.  Geo.  W.  Knox,  D.D 43 


X.  •  CONTENTS. 

Evening  Session. 

PAGE. 

j  The  Spiritual  Need  and  Claims  of  China. 

The  Kev.  J.  Hudson  Taylor 46-54 

Miss  Geraldine  Guinness         54-61 

THIRD  DAY. 

Morning  Session. 

Report  of  Executive    Committee:     Three    Years   of 

Progress         62-82 

Mr,  John  R.  Mott. 
The  Origin  of  the  British  Movement 83-87 

Mr,  Donald  Fraser. 
The  Significance  and  Work  of  the  Volunteer  Band,        87-90 

Mr.  D,  Willard  Lyon. 

Evening  Session. 

The  Man  of  God  and  the  Word  of  God   ....  90-96 

The  Rev,  A,  J.  Gordon,  D.D. 
The  Volunteer  Movement  Among  Students  in  Non- 
Christian  Lands 96-104 

Mr.  Luther  D.  Wishard. 

FOURTH   DAY. 

Morning  Session. 

The  Evangelization  of  the  World  in  this  Generation,    105-115 
The  Rev.  A.  T.  Pierson,  D.D, 

Evening  Session 

Why  we  Believe  in  the  Student  Volunteer  Move- 
ment       115-117 

Mr,  Robert  E.  Speer. 

J    Appeal  for  Funds 117-118 

Mr.  John  R.  Mott, 
The  Spirit  in  His  Work  and  Preparation  for  the  Mis- 
sionary Enterprise 119-130 

The  Rev.  A,  J.  Gordon,  D.D, 

FIFTH   DAY. 

Morning  Session. 

Consecration   Service 131-137 

Miss  Geraldine  Guinness. 


CONTENTS.  XI. 

Afternoon  Session. 

PAGE. 

Nuggets  from  Missionaries. 

The  Rev.  Andrew  P.  Happer,  D.D 138 

The  Rev.  George  W.  Knox,  D.D 139 

The  Rev.  Z.  F.  Griffin 139 

Mr.  Edward  Marsden       140 

The  Rev.  A.  Oltraans      140 

The  Rev.  S.  L.  Baldwin,  D.D 141 

The  Rev.  Frederick  G.  Coan 143 

J  An  Appeal  to  Students  for  the  Foreign  Field     .    .  144-148 
Mr.  Sherwood  Eddy. 

The  Blessedness  of  Knowing  God 148-150 

The  Rev.  J.  Hudson  Taylor. 

JSvening  Session. 
FAREWELL  REMARKS. 

The  Last  Message  of  the  Lord 150 

Mr.  John  R.  Mott. 
On  Behalf  of  the  People  of  Detroit 151 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Savin. 
A  Word  of  Thanks  from  the  Convention 152 

Mr.  Fred  S.  Goodman. 
The  United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor    ....  152 

Mr.  John  WilHs  Baer. 
The  Missionary  Boards  and  Societies 153 

The  Rev.  Judson  Smith,  D.D. 
The  Watch-Cry  of  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement,  155 

Mr.  Gilbert  Beaver. 
The  Impulse  to  Missionary  Service 157 

Mr.  Donald  Eraser. 
Cable  Message  from  Calcutta. 

Mr.  Robert  P.  Wilder 

Mr.  J.  Campbell  White 159 

Appeal  from  the  Volunteers  in  India 159 

A  Call  from  the  Field 159 

Mr.  James  E.  Adams. 

The  Answer  of  Sixty  Volunteers 161-162 

Farewell  Address 162-167 

Mr.  Robert  E.  Speer. 


xii.  CONTENTS. 

PART    II. 
SECTIONAL   CONFERENCES. 

EDUCATIONAL    CONFERENCE. 

PAGE. 

The  One  End  of  Foreign  Mission  Work 171 

The  Rev.  Judson  Smith,  D.D. 

y/  Ob.iect  of  Educational  Work  in  Missions 172 

The  Rev.  Robert  A.  Hume. 

Schools  of  Japan 174 

S.  H.  Wainwi-ight,  M.D. 
^  Educational    AVork    and    Main   Aims    of    Missionary 

Labor 176 

The  Rev.  W.  B.  Boggs,  D.D. 

Actual  Results  of  Education  in  Missionary  Work,     177-181 
The  Rev.  James  S.  Dennis,  D.D. 

General  Discussion. 

The  Rev.  George  W.  Knox 181 

The  Rev.  J.  Taylor  Hamilton 181 

The  Rev.  R.  T.  Bryan 182 

The  Rev.  H.  P.  Beach 183 

The  Rev.  Alexander  Sutherland 183 

Miss  Evans 184 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Chester 184 

Questions 185 

CONFERENCE  ON  EVANGELISTIC   WORK. 

Methods  of  Evangelistic  Work  in  the  Early  Church,  187 

Mr.  Robert  E.  Speer. 
Christ  as  the  Best  Christian  Missionary 188-191 

Mr.  Frost. 
The  Equip3ient  for  Evangelistic  Work 191 

Mr.  Spencer  Walton. 
Methods  IN  the  Shantung  Mission 192 

The  Rev.  Gilbert  Reid. 
Methods  in  the  Country  Districts  of  Persia     ...  194 

The  Rev.  F.  G.  Coan. 
The  Best  Method  of  Training  Evangelists       ....  196 

Mr.  Leonard. 
The  Work  among  the  Karens 198 

The  Rev.  A.  T.  Rose,  D.D. 


/ 


CONTJiNTS.  XUl. 

The  Rising  Movement  among  the  Loav  Caste  People  page. 

OF  India  .    .  200 

The  Rev.  Reese  Thackwell. 
The  Personal  Sweetness  and  Privilege  of  the  Evan- 
gelistic Work 201 

The  Rev.  George  A.  Ford. 

MEDICAL   MISSION  CONFERENCE. 

Jesus  the  Healer 204 

The  Rev.  H.  P.  Beach. 

A  Sketch  of  Medical  Missions  in  China 205 

The  Rev.  W.  R.  Lambeth. 
A  Medical  Missionary's  Personal  Experience     ....     207-210 
The  Rev.  J.  Hudson  Taylor. 

Claims  of  Medical  Missions 211 

Dr.  Dowkontt. 

*  Our  Opportunity  among  Medical  Students 212-216 

Mr,  Frank  Keller. 
.  How  MAY  WE  Secure  Medical  Volunteers  for  Mission- 
ary Service  ? 216-219 

W.  Harley  Smith,  M.D. 

CONFERENCE   ON  WOMAN'S   WORK. 

Women  in  Medical  Missionary  Work      220-223 

Dr.  Pauline  Root. 
Women's  Boards  and  the  Volunteer  Movement     .    .  223 

Mrs.  Richard  C.  Morse. 
^  Women's  Evangelistic  Work  in  China 224 

Miss  Geraldine  Guinness. 
Women  in  Educational  Work  on  Foreign  Fields  .    .  226 

Miss  Jane  G.  Evans. 
Women's  Work  in  Japan  ...  228 

Miss  Gertrude  S.  Bigelow. 
Women's  Work  in  Africa  229 

Miss  Ellen  Groenendyke. 

CONFERENCES   ON  SPECIAL   FIELDS. 
China. 

Past   Achievements    in    China    the    Foundation   and 

Guaranty  of  Future  Success 231-234 

The  Rev.  R.  T.  Bryan. 


XIV.  COXTENTS. 

PAGE. 

\  China  :  Her  Possibilities 234-237 

The  Rev.  Gilbert  Reid. 

J  What  a  Woman  Can  Do  ox  Medical  Lines  in  China,     237-239 
Miss  C.  H.  Daniells,  M.D. 

*    Woman  and  Her  Wrongs  in  China 239-242 

Miss  Geraldine  Guinness. 

V.    The  Need  of  Men  and   Women  of  Literary  Tastes 

IN  China      242 

The  Rev.  Henry  Kingman. 

\    The  Educator's  Opportunity  .    .    . 244-247 

The  Rev.  Andrew  P.  Happer,  D.D. 

^    The  Opportunity  for  the  Evangelist  in  China  .    .    .  247 

The  Rev.  J.  Hudson  Taylor. 
General  Remarks. 

Miss  Mary  H.  Porter 249 

Miss  Gertrude  Howe 249 

Mr.  Brock 249 

Mr.  Shimmen 250 

Prof.  Willis  250 

The  Rev.  Dr.  J.  A.  Leyenberger   ...  251 

The  Rev.  Dr.  BaldAvin 252 

The  Rev.  Mr.  McCarthy     .    .        ......  252 

Mrs.  J.  Hudson  Taylor 253 

Japan  and  Korea. 

The  Kind  of  Men  Needed  for  the  Work  in  Japan  and 

THE  Preparation  for  It       254-257 

The  Rev.  A.  Oltmans. 
The  Present  Crisis  in  Japanese  Missions 257-261 

The  Rev.  George  W.  Knox. 
Evangelistic  Work  in  Japan 261-264 

Dr.  John  W.  Saunby. 
Features  of  the  Korean  Field 265 

The  Rev.  F.  Ohlinger. 
Woman's  Work  in  Japan 266 

Miss  Hannah  Lund. 
Girls'   Schools 268 

Miss  Gertrude  Bigelow. 
Discussion 269 

India. 

Work  among  the  Depressed  Classes 270-272 

The  Rev.  W.  B.  Boggs,  D.  D. 


CONTENTS.  XV. 

How  TO  DO  Missionary  Work  Among  the  Educated  page. 

Classes  in  India 273 

The  Rev.  Robert  A.  Hume. 
The  Work  in  Rohilicund       275-278 

Mr.  Peachy  T.  Wilson. 
Work  Among  the  Burmese        278-281 

The  Rev.  A.  T.  Rose,  D.  D. 
Features  of  Work  in  North  India 281 

The  Rev.  Reese  Thackwell. 
Questions        282 

Africa. 

A  Geographical  Survey  of  Africa 284 

Mr.  William  E.  Blackstone. 
Egypt  as  a  Mission  Field    ....  285 

The  Rev.  Chauncey  Miu-ch. 
Fulfillment  of  Prophecy   in  Africa 286 

Mr.  Spencer  Walton, 
Difficulties  and  Encouragements  of  Work  in  Africa  288 

Miss  Ellen  Groenendyke. 

Questions ^ 289-293 

Appeals 294-295 

The  Levant. 

Christian  Reformation  in  the  Orient 296-299 

Rev.  George  A.  Ford. 
The    Strategic    Import    of    Missions    in    the  Levant,     299-304 

The  Rev.  James  S.  Dennis. 
The  Present  Evangelistic   Outlook  in  the    Levant,     304-309 

The  Rev.  Frederick  G.  Coan. 
The  Political  Situation  in  the   Levant  as  Related 

TO  Mission  Work 309-312 

The  Rev.  T.  R.  Sampson. 
Questions 313 

CONFERElSrCE   OF   I]SrSTRUCTORS   IX  COLLEGES,   THEOLOGICAL 
SEMINARIES,    AND   FITTING   SCHOOLS. 

Introductory  Remarks 315 

Prof.  Frank  K.  Sanders. 
Our  Relation  to  the  Individual  Volunteer     ....  316 

Prof.  C.  Armand  Miller 


xvi.  contents. 

Our  Relation   to  the    Maintenance  of  a  True  Mis-  page. 

siONARY  Spirit  in   our  Institutions 318 

Prof.  H.  W.  Hulbert. 
Our  Relation  to  the  Wise  Development  of  the  Vol- 
unteer Movement 319 

Mr.  E.  L.  Hunt. 
Resolutions 320 

CONFERENCE   ON  THE   EVANGELIZATION  OF  THE   JEWS. 

Introductory  Remarks  .    .  322 

Mr.  William  E.  Blackstone. 
The  Duty  of    the    Church  to  Preach  the  Gospel  to 

THE  Jews 323-330 

The  Rev.  A.  J.  Gordon,  D.D. 
The  Jew  and  the  Bible 330-332 

Miss  Ben-Oliel. 

YOUNG  PEOPLE'S   SOCIETIES   CONFERENCE. 

The  Promotion  of  the  Cause  of  Missions 333 

Mr.  John  Willis  Baer. 
Missionary  Work  of  the  Young  People's    Christian 

Union 335 

The  Rev.  S.  J.  Shaw. 
The  Epworth  League  and  Missions 337-340 

The  Rev.  Joseph  F.  Berry. 
Missionary  Studies    of    the    Baptist  Young  People's 

Union 340-343 

The  Rev.  F.  L.  Wilkins.  «* 

YOUNG  MEN'S   AND   YOUNG  WOMEN'S    CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATION 

CONFERENCE. 

The  Relation  of  the  Y,  M.  C.  A.  and  Y.  W.  C.  A.  to 

THE  Student  Volunteer  Movement 344 

Mr.  C.  K.  Ober. 

Solidarity  of  the  Work 344 

Mr.  Richard  C.  Morse. 
How  Can  We  Promote  the  Student  Volunteer  Move- 
ment? 

Miss  Effie  K.  Price 345 

Mr.  H.  O.  Williams         345 


CONTENTS.  XVll. 

"  PAGE. 

Relation  of  a  Local  Secretary  to  the  Movement  345 

Miss  Silver, 
Work  of  the  College  Committee 345 

Miss  Martin. 
Corresponding  Memhers'  Work 346 

Mr.  H.  M.  Clarke. 
Giving  to  the  Movement      346 

Mr.  F.  IT.  Burt. 
HoAV  to  Assist  Association  Work  in  Foreign  Lands,  346 

Mr.  F.  S.  Goodman. 

APPENDIX. 

Educational  Exhibit  of  Missionary  Literature  .    .    .     349-351 

H.  B.  Sharman. 
Lists  of  Institutions  Represented,  avith  Number  of 

Student  Delegates 352-362 

Number  of  Institutions  Represented  in  each  Province 

AND  State  363-364 

Classification  of  Institutions  Represented 364 

Personnel  of  the  Convention 364 


PART    I. 


GENERAL    PROCEEDINGS. 


THE 
STUDENT    MISSIONARY    ENTERPRISE, 

OR 

THE    WORLD'S    CONQUEST    FOR    CHRIST. 


FIRST  DAY,  AVEDNESDAY,  FEBRUARY,  28. 

Evening  Session. 

The  Convention  was  called  to  order  by  Mr.  John  R.  Mott,  Chair- 
man, at  7.30  P.  M.,  a  preliminary  song  service  having  been  conducted 
by  Mr.  George  C.  Stebbins,  of  Brooklyn.  The  Convention  was  opened 
with  prayer  by  the  Rev.  Arthur  T.  Pierson,  D.D.,  of  Philadelphia.  The 
Rev.  Donald  B.  McLauren,  D.D.,  of  the  Woodward  Avenue  Baptist 
Church,  welcomed  the  delegates  as  follows :  — 

Brother  Chairman,  and  Brothers  and  Sisters  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ :  It  devolves  upon  me  to  express  in  a  few  words  the  welcome 
which  awaits  you  in  Detroit.  The  Lord  has  writ  "  welcome  "  large  on 
our  hearts.  I  welcome  you  here  as  men  and  women  in  the  morning  of 
life,  consecrated  to  the  service  of  Jesus  Christ.  You  have  come  here 
to  confer  together  about  that  sreat  commission  of  our  Master.  This  is 
the  only  parliament  of  religions  that  some  of  us  believe  in.  It  is  a 
parliament  of  peers.  There  is  only  one  religion.  There  is  only  one 
Saviour.  There  is  only  one  salvation  from  human  sin,  and  that  is  by 
the  blood  of  our  Christ.  Every  other  religion,  to  the  minds  of  some  of 
us  at  least  in  Detroit,  is  but  a  gilded  lie.  And  you  are  to  carry  the 
story,  many  of  you,  of  this  Christ  of  ours  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
earth,  until  every  man,  woman,  and  child  shall  hear  it.  We  welcome 
you  in  the  name  of  that  Christ,  to  meet  each  other,  to  greet  each  other, 
to  plan  with  each  other,  under  the  direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  for  the 
conquest  of  this  world.  And  can  you  tell  me  what  grander  work? 
It  has  been  granted  to  us  m  this  last  decade  of  this  wondei'ful  nine- 
teenth century  to  live  in  a  most  wonderful  age,  such  an  age  as  the 
world  has  never  known.     Back  of  us  lie  thousands  of  years  of  human 


2  The  World's  Conquest. 

effort,  effort  often  misdirected,  but  never  wholly  useless  ;  for  whether  it 
led  to  victory  or  to  defeat  it  lifted  the  level  of  opportunity  high.  Toil- 
somely, generation  after  generation  has  climbed  up  the  steep  slopes  and 
the  rocky  hillsides,  until  we  to-night  stand  at  an  immense  altitude  of 
opportunity  above  our  fathers.  And  we  know  that  sorrow,  and  tears, 
and  eternal  death  for  myriads  of  our  race  are  behind  us.  But  the  face 
of  God  is  being  lifted  above  the  nations  of  the  earth ;  and  behold !  the 
Sun  of  Righteousness,  full-orbed,  resplendent,  is  rising  with  healing 
in  his  beams.  Shall  we  who  are  gathered  in  this  Convention  not  say, 
"  Rise,  we  welcome  thee,  thou  magnificent  symbol  of  the  Christ,  the 
eternal  Son  of  God  ?  "     We  welcome  you  in  His  name. 

Mr.  John  R.  Mott,  Chairman,  said  :  — 

It  would  be  impossible  to  gather  up  in  the  words  of  any  man  our 
emotion  and  our  desires,  and  the  ajjpreciation  which  this  address  of 
welcome,  extended  with  such  whole-hearted  loyalty  to  our  Lord, 
awakens.  The  way  we  shall  strive  to  show  that  appreciation  during 
these  five  days  that  we  are  to  spend  in  this  fair  city  is  by  our  words 
and  by  our  lives,  expressing  best  in  this  way  doubtless  our  appreciation 
of  what  this  city  has  done  and  what  our  Lord  has  done  in  making 
possible  these  things  that  have  surpassed  the  highest  faith  of  us  all. 

It  is  fitting  that  Mr.  Robert  E.  Speer  make  the  opening  address  of 
this  Convention.  He  who  knows  so  intimately  the  genius,  the  life,  the 
purpose  of  this  Student  Volunteer  Movement,  is  in  position  to  guide 
our  feet  and  to  set  our  faces  toward  these  fields,  and  to  furnish  the  key 
to  these  sessions  that  follow,  as  no  other  man  w^ho  is  living.  I  know 
that  our  prayers  shall  attend  him  during  these  minutes  as  they  advance 
—  I  repeat,  during  these  minutes  as  they  advance  let  our  prayerfulness 
increase. 

Paul,  The  Great  Missionary  Example. 

Mr.  Robert  E.  Speer,  Secretary  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions,  said  :  — 

Fellow  Students,  for  a  great  many  of  us  this  is  probably  the  best 
and  most  blessed  meeting  of  our  lives,  both  in  the  memories  it  will 
leave  with  us  and  in  the  influences  it  will  exert  upon  us.  In  a  very  few 
months,  or  at  the  most  in  a  very  few  years,  many  of  us  who  have  come 
here  to  this  second  Convention  will  be  serving  Jesus  Christ  in  foreign 
lands.  We  have  come  here  with  the  purpose  to  catch  from  Him  once 
again  that  inspiration  which  in  such  gatherings  as  this,  or  alone  with 
Him,  we  have  caught  in  the  past.  We  can  count  upon  catching  it 
here.  There  has  been  enough  prayer  made  in  preparation  for  these 
meetings  to  justify  us  all  in  believing,  with  unwavering  faith,  that  larger 
blessings  will  fall  upon  this  gathering  than  any  previous  gathering  of 


The  World's  Conquest.  3 

college  students  ever  received  from  God.  And  yet  the  inspiration  of 
this  assembly,  each  of  us  knows  from  past  experiences,  will  be  quite  as 
ephemeral  as  the  passage  of  to-morrow's  sun.  In  a  few  days  the  feel- 
ing will  be  gone,  the  passions  which  these  meetings  called  forth  will 
have  subsided,  and  all  that  will  be  left  to  us  will  be  the  fading  memory 
of  good  things  gone. 

So  it  is  well  that  this  first  evening  we  are  directed  to  the  study  of 
a  great  example,  which  will  at  once  give  us  the  inspiration  that  can 
come  alone  from  a  life,  and  serve  also  as  a  guiding  star  to  hold  us 
firmly  and  strongly  faithful  to  principles  which  are  true  and  right.  I 
have  been  asked  to  speak  on  "  Paul,  the  Great  Missionary  Example." 

Some  one  will  at  once  raise  the  question,  if  an  example  is  to  be 
taken,  why  not  the  best,  why  not  "Christ,  the  Missionary  Model?" 
And  there  would  be  helpfulness  to-night  in  the  study  of  the  life  of 
Jesus  Christ  as  the  first  Christian  Missionary.  He  said  He  was  one  :  "I 
came  down  from  Heaven  not  to  do  my  own  will,  but  the  will  of  Him 
that  sent  me."  And  with  a  larger  tenderness  even  than  we  are  able  to 
muster  as  we  sit  at  the  feet  of  Paul,  would  we  gather  to-night  around 
the  feet  of  Him  w^hom  not  having  seen  we  love.  And  yet  I  imagine 
we  can  catch  in  this  brief  hour,  for  practical  usefulness  in  our  mission- 
ary lives,  as  much  almost  of  helpfulness  from  Christ's  great  servant  as 
we  could  from  Paul's  greater  Master.  For  Jesus  Christ  came  to  His 
own.  The  Apostle  Paul  went  to  those  who  were  not  his  own,  and  the 
lives  of  most  of  us  are  turned  toward  the  foreign  field.  And  however 
firmly  any  of  us  may  have  grasped  the  priceless  truth  of  our  Lord's 
humanity,  we  can  never  gain  from  Him  quite  the  same  force  of  human 
example  and  lesson  that  we  could  get  from  the  lives  of  those  who  fol- 
lowed as  best  they  could  in  His  footsteps.  Some  one  might  even  be 
disposed  to  deny  that  we  can  gain  much  from  the  life  of  Paul.  I  had 
a  classmate  in  college  who  got  no  adequate  help  from  Paul  or  any 
whom  the  Lord  had  sent  for  our  example.  For  some  strange  reason 
they  were  of  little  practical  help  to  him.  A  shadowy  apotheosis  had 
taken  them  beyond  his  reach.  I  quoted  to  him  often  the  verse  in  the 
fifth  chapter  of  James,  where  James  tells  us  that  Elijah  was  a  man  of 
the  same  nature  with  us ;  but  it  seemed  to  bring  to  him  no  con- 
ception of  the  truth  that  he  might  live  a  better  life  than  Elijah 
lived.  Just  the  same  words  spoke  Barnabas  and  his  companion  Paul. 
When  at  Lystra  men  fell  down  to  worship  them  as  gods,  they  lifted 
them  with  the  words :  "  Sirs,  we  ai-e  men  of  the  same  nature  with 
you."  A  single  glimpse  into  the  life  of  Paul  will  show  us  that  Paul 
was  a  man  in  a  thousand  points  just  as  we  are.  The  record  of  his 
human  mistakes  are  set  out  in  God's  Word.  And  in  a  score  of  ways 
he  faced  the  same  mission  problems  which  confront  us  to-day.  He 
met  the  difticulties  of  factional  dissension  on  the  foreign  field,  and  of 


4  The  World's  Conquest. 

low  spiritual  life  in  his  converts.  The  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians 
is  his  answer.  He  had  to  meet  the  carrying  over  into  the  new  Chris- 
tian life  of  the  old  pagan  ideas  from  the  heathen  life.  The  Epistle  to 
the  Ephesians  is  his  reply.  Apart  altogether  from  the  great  difficulty 
that  confronts  us  in  an  apathy  in  the  Christian  Church  at  home,  Paul 
faced  what  was  worse  than  an  apathy,  even  an  open  hostility  to  the 
entrance  of  Gentiles  into  the  Christian  Church.  No  one  goes  to  that 
extent  to-day.  If  anybody  to-night  is  desirous  "  to  throw  his  life  away  " 
in  the  missionary  work,  all  men  bid  him  Godspeed  of  commiseration, 
at  least.  We  turn  therefore  to  the  study  of  'a  life  akin  to  ours,  in  some 
particulars  an  example  for  all,  in  nearly  all  particulars  an  example  for 
us. 

One  is  struck  first  of  all  by  the  Apostle  Paul's  preliminary  training. 
He  was  a  man  of  intense  personal  vigor.  The  first  glimpse  we  have 
of  him  is  of  a  man  intensely  in  earnest,  though  in  the  wrong.  We  see 
him  with  the  coats  of  the  witnesses  who  stoned  Stephen  lying  at  his 
feet,  assuming  thereby  such  responsibility  for  the  death  of  that  godly 
man  as  betokened  even  in  the  young  Saul  a  larger  personal  jDower  than 
was  found  in  most  of  those  who  committed  the  deed.  Immediately 
after  that  we  find  him  binding  men  and  women  one  by  one,  going  from 
house  to  house,  haling  all  Christians  and  committing  them  to  prison. 
And  when  at  last  the  glory  of  the  divine  vision  came  to  him,  we  find 
him  riding  in  advance  of  his  companions  on  the  road  to  Damascus  in 
bitter  search  for  Christians.  There  is  a  large  truth  illustrated  in  what 
God  did  with  Paul.  He  did  not  take  a  man  and  train  him  in  a  Christian 
home  from  his  earliest  childhood.  He  picked  out  a  man  in  middle 
life,  who  had  all  the  strong  powers  of  his  manhood  turned  in  a  wrong 
channel,  and  simply  turned  those  forces  into  better  and  higher  chan- 
nels. It  is  a  truth  the  Scriptures  through,  that  what  God  likes  is 
energy  in  men,  and  that  he  does  not  kill  that  energy  when  he  calls 
them  out  of  the  old  paths  into  new. 

The  character  of  Paul's  call  was  such  as  to  enlarge  his  passionate 
power.  He  saw  Christ  and  heard  His  voice  as  Raymond  Lull  saw  and 
heard,  as  Francis  Assisi  saw  and  among  the  Umbrian  hills  heard,  "  My 
temple  is  fallen  into  ruins,  repair  it,"  and  that  vision  and  voice 
quadrupled  his  powers  and  set  them  on  "  the  things  above." 

And,  after  the  stormy  and  silent  training  in  Damascus  and  Arabia 
came,  where  his  powers  grew  and  his  life  shaped  itself  to  the  new  pur- 
poses, in  the  Arabian  stillnesses  God  spoke  to  him  more. 

"  If  chosen  men  could  never  be  alone 
In  deep  mid-silence  open  browed  to  God 
No  greatness  ever  had  been  dreamed  or  done." 

There  was  one  other  influence  which  helped  to  make  Paul  the 
missionary  he  was.     It  was  the  influence  of  Barnabas.     When  Paul 


The  World's  Conquest.  5 

was  coming  up  to  Jerusalem  after  his  conversion  and  nobody  would 
believe  that  he  was  a  believer  it  was  Barnabas  who  vouched  for  him. 
When  obliged  to  run  away  from  Jerusalem  he  brought  him  from 
Tarsus  to  Antioch  that  he  might  train  him  l)y  helping  him  to  train 
others.  And  it  was  Barnabas  who  pushed  him  forward  at  Antioch 
the  moment  he  saw  Paul  was  ready  for  the  responsibility.  You  will 
get  a  great  deal  of  help  in  your  missionar}-  life  if  you  tie  yourself  to  ex- 
perienced men.  Those  men  in  the  Shantung  Mission  in  China,  who 
had  the  privilege  of  feeling  the  influence  of  Dr.  Nevius,  had  a  great 
opportunity.  If  you  come  in  contact  with  men  like  Barnabas,  let  them 
mould  you  as  Barnabas  moulded  Paul  years  ago  and  gave  him  the  bent 
of  his  life. 

So  much  for  the  training  of  the  Apostle  Paul.  Let  us  turn  for  one 
moment  to  his  call.  We  read  in  Acts  13:2  that,  "  As  they  ministered 
to  the  Lord,  and  fasted,  the  Holy  Ghost  said.  Separate  me  Barnabas 
and  Saul  for  the  work  whereunto  I  have  called  them. "  That  was 
not  Paul's  missionary  call.  Long  before  that  the  Apostle  Paul  had 
been  called  as  a  missionary.  He  tells  us  himself  explicitly,  in  the 
first  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  that  he  was  called  "  P^rom 
his  mother's  womb."  There  are  many  who  say  they  have  had  no  such 
experience  as  that  detailed  in  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  Acts ;  that 
therefore  they  can  not  know  that  in  any  such  sense  as  the  Apostle 
Paul  was  called  they  have  been  called  to  foreign  fields.  The  Apostle 
Paul  was  called  before  he  drew  a  breath  in  this  world,  and  those  of  us 
who  are  called  into  the  mission  field  were  called  centuries  before  we 
were  born.  Whether  we  find  it  out  as  Paul  did  or  not  makes  no  dif- 
ference. The  obligations  of  duty  do  not  rest  upon  our  manner  of  dis- 
covering it.  It  is  an  interesting  point  that  other  people  knew  Paul 
was  called  before  he  knew  it  himself.  Ananias  was  told  that  Paul  was 
to  be  a  great  force  for  God  among  the  Gentiles  before  Paul  was  told  him- 
self. Paul  was  smitten  down  on  the  road  to  Damascus.  He  was  told 
to  go  into  the  cit}^  and  there  he  would  be  told  what  the  business  of  his 
life  was  to  be.  But  it  was  not  until  afterwards  when  he  himself  went 
down  to  Jerusalem  and  was  engaged  in  prayer  in  the  temple  that  he 
got  those  explicit  and  definite  directions  that  ever  afterwards  consti- 
tuted the  guiding  star  of  his  life.  And  even  after  that  scene  in  the 
temple  you  know  how  he  still  held  back,  how  he  wanted  to  argue  the 
case  with  God  that  he  was  a  better  man  for  Jerusalem  where  his  past 
record  was  known  than  for  the  heathen  world,  where  the  fact  that 
he  was  a  brand  caught  from  the  very  heat  of  the  burning  would  not 
give  him  the  influence  it  would  in  Jerusalem.  Men  shrink  from  large 
destinies  to-day. 

So  much  for  Paul's  call  and  his  training.  We  have  no  time 
to-night  to  sketch  the  stupendous  life-work  that  he  did.     It  must  be 


6  The  World's  Conquest. 

sufficient  to  note  two  great  facts  about  it.  First,  that  it  was  an  ex- 
panding rather  than  a  contracting  work.  How  many  of  us  have  in  the 
beginning  of  our  lives  marked  out  a  larger  scheme  of  life  than  ten 
men  of  our  caliber  would  find  it  possible  to  accomplish  ?  How  many 
of  us  have  made  our  plans  so  large  that  we  shall  never  be  able  to  exe- 
cute them  ?  It  was  not  so  with  Paul.  He  wanted  to  work  first  in 
Jerusalem.  The  Lord  enlarged  his  ideas  until  he  was  willing  to  con- 
sider that  the  whole  world  must  be  his  parish.  He  did  what  work  he 
could  in  Jerusalem,  but  that  was  merely  a  point  of  departure.  He  took 
Antioch  into  the  circle  of  his  operations.  He  embraced  Asia,  and  then 
swept  North  and  West  until  we  hear  him  declaring  that,  "  From 
Jerusalem  and  round  about  unto  lUyricum "  on  the  other  side  of 
Greece  he  had  fully  preached  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  Then  he  says,  "  I 
must  also  see  Rome."  And  he  has  his  gaze  fixed  farther  still,  on  the 
very  pillars  of  Hercules,  for  he  says,  "  I  will  see  you  on  my  way  to 
Spain."  And  secondly,  the  Apostle  Paul  never  lost  hold  of  his  work. 
Though  he  kept  constantly  taking  more  and  more  into  the  scope  of  his 
operations,  though  he  every  day  assumed  larger  responsibilities,  we  find 
him  every  day  also  rising  to  the  bearing  of  those  responsibilities.  If 
he  founded  twenty  more  churches  this  year  than  last,  he  did  not  do  it 
without  being  able  to  know  that  he  could  retain  his  grip  on  them. 
And  at  the  time  of  his  death,  so  far  as  we  can  learn,  he  had  his  hands 
still  on  all  the  work  he  had  undertaken  and  originated. 

Passing  his  work  let  us  look  at  three  things :  First,  His  Missionary 
Methods.  Secondly,  His  Missionary  Message.  Thirdly,  His  Mission- 
ary Motives. 

At  first  it  seems  incongruous  to  speak  of  his  missionary  methods. 
We  are  so  taken  up  with  the  great  character  of  the  man  and  by  his 
mighty  results,  that  it  is  difficult  to  look  beyond  them  ;  and  yet  if  Paul 
was  a  missionary  he  must  have  had  modes  of  work,  and  if  he  had 
modes  of  work  he  had  missionary  methods  ;  and  if  his  example  has  any 
force  at  all  it  must  be  of  infinite  consequence  to  find  out  what  his 
methods  were. 

First  of  all,  one  notices  that  the  Apostle  Paul  had  the  faculty  of 
giving  away  all  his  work.  He  never  kept  any  more  of  it  for  himself 
than  was  absolutely  necessary.  The  remark  attributed  to  Edward 
Everett  Hale,  in  a  paper  recently  published,  that  he  had  lived  to  such  a 
ripe  old  age  and  was  able  to  work  so  easily  now  because  he  had  culti- 
vated the  habit  of  doing  nothing  he  could  get  anybody  else  to  do,  has 
a  large  truth  in  it.  It  is  true  that  a  man  does  the  best  work  as  a 
Christian  worker  here  or  in  the  foreign  field  who  does  not  attempt  to 
do  the  work  himself  but  sets  other  men  doing  it.  It  was  so  with  Bar- 
nabas and  Paul.  In  the  first  verse  of  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  Acts 
we  read  that  in  the  church  at  Antioch  there  were  certain  prophets  and 


The  Woeld's  Conquest.  7 

teachers,  as  Barnabas  and  Lucius  of  Cyrene,  Manaen  Herod's  foster- 
brother,  and  Simeon  who  was  called  Niger  —  whether  because  he  was 
a  negro  or  not  we  do  not  know ;  but  the  list  indicates  at  least  that 
they  had  gone  very  far  in  training  a  large  class  of  men  in  that  little 
church  of  Antioch  who  would  be  able  to  reach  possibly  all  classes  of 
men.  When  Paul  came  to  Derbe  and  Lystra  he  found  a  young  man 
named  Timothy  whom  he  pressed  in  his  service.  And  constantly, 
through  his  life,  if  he  saw  a  man  he  could  utilize  he  laid  hands  upon 
him.  He  had  the  knack  of  getting  hold  of  people.  He  was  the  kind 
of  missionary  who  has  his  heart  open  all  the  time  and  wins 
over  every  man  he  can  to  the  affection  and  the  service  of  the  Lord. 
We  find  him  writing  to  the  Corinthian  Church  about  Titus  whom  he 
loved,  and  to  Timothy  of  Onesiphorus,  who  had  comforted  him  much. 
His  epistles  are  as  full  of  the  men  he  loves  and  has  helped,  and  by 
whom  he  has  been  helped,  as  of  some  things  upon  which  we  often  lay 
larger  emphasis. 

The  second  characteristic  of  Paul's  missionary  methods  is  that 
he  expected  these  men  to  work  without  pay.  He  believed  that  the 
Gospel  of  God  had  in  itself  enough  of  strength  and  of  motivity  to 
lead  these  men  into  its  service  without  having  means  provided  for 
them  by  foreign  funds.  The  easiest  method  of  missionary  work  will 
be  to  avail  yourself  of  all  the  funds  you  can  get  from  the  home 
society  to  pay  native  helpers.  But  I  presume  the  better  testimony 
of  the  better  missionaries  would  be  that  in  so  doing  you  could 
scarcely  make  a  graver  mistake.  If  anybody  asked  what  two  books 
would  be  the  best  two  books  for  a  young  missionary,  I  should  say  the 
Bible  and  Dr.  Nevius'  "Methods  of  Mission  Work."  The  book  is  not 
in  print  in  this  country.  It  consists  of  a  number  of  papers  which  some 
years  ago  he  wrote  for  the  Chinese  Recorder.  Any  man  who  wants 
to  know  at  the  outset  of  his  missionary  career  what  the  most  Sci'iptural 
and  rational  methods  are,  would  better  get  as  soon  as  he  can  a  copy  of 
this  book.  It  has  been  criticised,  but  its  main  teachings  are  not  less 
true.  The  chief  contention  of  it  is  that  it  is  contrary  to  the  best  mis- 
sionary policy  and  the  practice  of  the  early  missionaries  to  fee  native 
helpers  largely  with  funds  from  a  foreign  land.  Paul  never  did  it. 
You  cannot  find  a  single  instance  where  he  put  a  salaried  man  over  a 
native  church,  or  imposed  upon  a  native  church  forms  of  chm*ch  organi- 
zation for  which  it  was  not  then  and  might  never  be  ripe.  He 
constantly  expected  the  Christians  in  these  churches  themselves  to 
do  the  work,  and  if  they  were  ever  to  have  paid  pastors  over 
them  at  all  he  left  it  to  be  deferred  imtil  the  people  themselves  could 
bear  the  expense.  We  are  endeavoring  to  raise  up  a  self-propagating, 
self-sustaining  church.  How  can  we  do  it  when  from  generation  to 
generation  we  put  over  that  church  a  corps  of  native  workers  paid  on 


8  The  World's  Conquest. 

a  scale  to  which  the  native  church  will  not  be  able  to  rise  for  genera- 
tions ?  We  had  just  a  little  while  ago  a  missionary  conference  in  New 
York  City,  and  I  commend  to  you  a  paper  read  there  by  Dr.  Duncan 
of  the  Baptist  Missionary  Society,  in  which  he  told  the  story  of  the 
Karen  Mission,  where  a  wise  policy  was  pursued  uninterruptedly ; 
wliere  the  principles  laid  down  by  Paul  were  followed  ;  and  where  there 
is  to-day  a  self-propagating,  self-sustaining  native  church.  There  is  a 
proper  limited  use  of  foreign  funds  in  the  employment  of  native  helpers ; 
but  let  us  tie  ourselves  in  the  main  to  the  example  of  the  Apostle  Paul 
in  counting  on  the  spontaneous,  genuine  Christian  spirit  of  those  who 
are  won  to  Christ  to  spread  the  Gospel  among  their  own  people. 

There  is  a  third  thing  about  the  methods  of  Paul  that  suggests 
itself  at  once  to  anyone  desiring  the  establishment  of  the  church  in  a 
foreign  field,  and  that  is  his  method  of  founding  and  organizing  the 
native  churches.  He  did  not  leave  them  alone  without  supervision. 
He  went  back  constantly  over  his  track.  He  and  Barnabas  were  sug- 
gesting to  one  another  before  they  last  parted  that  they  should  go  back 
and  re-visit  the  churches  where  they  had  been  before.  And  you  know 
how  over  each  one  of  those  churches,  as  he  founded  them,  as  soon  as 
the  right  men  arose,  he  ordained  elders,  in  whose  hands  were  placed 
the  affairs  of  the  church  ;  he  made  them  at  once  self-supporting,  self- 
governing,  and  more.  Paul  was  not  content  not  to  pay  the  pastors  of 
these  churches  ;  he  actually  expected  the  mission  churches  themselves 
to  send  funds  back  to  Jerusalem  for  the  support  of  the  poor  there.  He 
tells  the  elders  of  the  Ephesian  Church  at  Miletus  to  recall  the  words 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  how  He  said,  "  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to 
receive."  He  reminds  the  Corinthian  Church  of  the  example  of  Christ, 
"  Who  though  He  was  rich,  yet  for  our  sakes  He  became  poor,  that  we 
through  His  poverty  might  be  rich."  He  writes  to  the  church  at  Pome 
of  the  offerings  made  by  Achaia  for  the  poor  of  the  church  of  Jerusa- 
lem. And  always,  while  he  had  strength  left  in  him,  and  while  he 
was  not  bound  with  a  chain,  not  only  his  heart  but  his  steps  turned 
back  to  his  churches  that  he  might  comfort  them,  and  quicken  them, 
and  train  them  further  in  the  faith  upon  which  he  had  first  set  their 
steps. 

I  like  a  fourth  thing  about  Paul,  and  that  was  the  way  he  combined 
a  strong  belief  in  an  institutional  Christianity  with  the  greatest  agility 
of  evangelistic  effort  ever  seen  in  any  missionary.  You  know  the  two 
sides  of  the  missionary  controversy  to-day.  We  are  told  on  one  hand 
that  no  kind  of  missionary  work  is  woi'th  anything  that  does  not  at 
once  localize  itself,  and  build  schools  and  colleges  first,  expect- 
ing that  after  years  results  will  be  gathered.  This  is  one 
mode  of  procedure.  And  on  the  other  side  there  are  those  who 
advocate  a  hop-skip-and-jump  evangelism,  not  stopping  in    one    place 


The  World's  Coxqukst.  9 

long  enough  to  let  the  people  to  whom  you  preach  the  Gospel  even 
hear  the  message  understandingly.  These  are  the  extremes.  There 
is  truth  on  both  sides,  and  the  Apostle  Paul  had  grasped  the  truth  in 
each.  If  on  the  one  hand  he  believed  there  was  need  of  haste,  that  the 
Lord  was  coming  soon,  that  before  him  and  the  church  there  was  not  a 
period  of  uninterrupted  prosperity  that  was  to  terminate  in  the  triumph 
of  that  institution,  but  that  there  were  in  some  strange  way,  dark  days 
coming  to  be  consummated  by  the  glorious  re-appearing  of  the  Lord  ; 
on  the  other  hand  he  stayed  two  years  in  Ephesus  and  many  months 
in  Antioch,  and  localized  his  efforts  many  a  time.  And  on  the  other 
hand,  if  he  believed  in  establishing  the  Gospel,  in  founding  a  permanent 
institution,  in  expecting  fruitage  and  victory,  he  was  most  volatile  in 
the  way  he  set  about  it.  He  never  sta3'ed  permanently  in  one  place; 
and  many  a  time  it  was  only  the  Sabbath  in  a  church,  and  in  that 
Sabbath  he  counted  upon  the  blessing  of  God  upon  his  work  which 
would  bring  immediate  fruitage. 

And  that  suggests  the  fifth  point  in  Paul's  method :  his  one 
reliance  was  the  Gospel.  We  received  a  letter  the  other  day  from  a 
mission  iield  where  we  have  had  no  large  success,  from  a  man  who  had 
received  his  training  in  methods  which  were  not  Paul's  methods,  and 
showed  it  in  the  letter  he  wrote,  in  which  he  said,  "  I  think  we  can 
never  be  able  to  do  anything  in  this  field  without  visible  brick  and 
mortar,  or  make  an 3'  impression  on  the  minds  of  these  people  until  we 
show  them  we  have  come  to  stay."  I  said  in  my  heart,  "  If  that  is  your 
reliance  you  will  never  make  any  impression  at  all."  The  only  reliance 
of  the  Apostle  Paul  was  the  preaching  of  Jesus  Christ  crucified.  He 
went  directly  at  the  souls  and  the  lives  of  men :  he  expected  results : 
he  had  faith  in  the  promises  of  God. 

We  shall  be  tempted  much  on  the  mission  field  to  drop  into  the 
indirect  methods  of  work.  Perhaps  we  shall  labor  year  after  year,  as 
Morrison  or  Judson  labored,  without  ever  seeing  a  soul  brought  to 
Christ,  and  we  shall  be  tempted  to  rely  on  some  mercenary  or  meretri- 
cious mode  of  gaining  men's  approval  of  the  Gospel.  Instead,  let  us 
stand  on  the  promises  and  the  power  of  Christ,  who  gave  His  own  word, 
a  word  that  is  not  a  lie,  that  "  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  the  Father  in 
my  name  He  will  give  it  you."  "And  all  things,  whatsoever  ye  shall 
ask  in  prayer,  believing,  ye  shall  receive."  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto 
you,  he  that  believeth  on  me,  the  works  that  I  do  he  shall  do  also  ;  and 
greater  works  than  these  shall  he  do ;  because  I  go  unto  my  Father." 

And  in  the  sixth  place  Paul  aimed  at  the  great  centres.  ISTowadays, 
you  know,  we  are  told  on  every  side  that  the  only  hope  for  mission 
fields  is  in  the  country  districts.  If  that  is  so,  a  large  change  has  come 
into  the  world  since  the  days  of  the  Apostle  Paul.  For  Paul  struck 
almost  invariablv  the  cities.     Christianitv  took  its  hold  in  the  cities  so 


10  The  World's  Conquest. 

much  so  that  those  wlio  were  not  Christians  came  to  be  called 
"  pagans "  or  country  i)eople,  testifying  by  their  very  name  that  the 
Gospel  had  laid  its  strongest  grasp  on  the  great  crowds  of  men.  And 
the  Salvation  Army  is  doing  it  to-day ;  its  gi'ip  is  on  the  city.  When  it 
has  tried  in  the  countiy  districts  it  has  failed  lo  accomplish  much ;  but 
in  the  cities  where  it  has  gone  down  to  the  submerged,  the  Salvation 
Army  to-day  is  doing  just  what  the  Christian  Church  did  in  the  first 
age.  It  has  not  lost  faith  in  the  redemption  of  the  city  life  to  Christ. 
There  is  truth  in  that  last  little  book  of  Professor  Drummond's  where 
he  speaks  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  that  is  to  come  in  the  everlasting 
ages  as  being  represented  as  a  city.  We  shall  surely  find  in  the  mis- 
sionary field  more  responsiveness  in  the  country  than  in  the  city,  and 
are  under  obligations  to  God  to  do  this  work  in  the  country,  and  to 
gather  this  fruit,  but  let  us  not  lose  faith  in  the  redemption  by  the 
power  of  Christ  of  the  large  city  populations  of  heathenism. 

The  seventh  thing  about  Paul's  methods  was  that  he  was  an  un- 
ceasing personal  worker.  Before  he  was  a  Christian  he  sought  those 
who  were  Christians  that  he  might  put  them  in  prison  one  by  one. 
And  when  he  became  a  Christian  he  did  not  lose  the  old  faculty  of 
getting  men  one  at  a  time.  Dr.  Nevius  said  once  that  he  thought 
nine-tenths  of  the  converts  in  China  were  gathered  by  personal  work, 
one  at  a  time.  The  testimony  of  the  missionaries  here  this  evening 
would  probably  be  to  the  same  effect.  The  greater  number  of  converts 
has  been  gathered  one  by  one  and  not  en  masse.  And,  fellow  students, 
we  know  perfectly  well  that  we  are  not  the  kind  of  personal  workers 
we  ought  to  be.  Many  a  man  goes  out  to  the  mission  field  without 
ever  having  been  trained  as  a  personal  worker.  In  the  blanks  we  use 
in  our  Board  for  Candidates  we  have  added  these  questions  : 

What  are  your  habits  of  Bible  study  ? 

Have  you  any  regular  habits  ? 

How  have  you  been  used  in  bringing  men  to  Christ? 

Are  you  a  personal  worker  ? 

Are  you  justified  in  believing  that  God  has  blessed  you  in  bringing 
souls  to  Him  ? 

You  would  he  amazed  if  you  saw  those  blanks  filled  out  by  the  men 
whom  you  perhaps  look  upon  as  the  best  Christian  workers  in  your 
colleges  or  universities,  to  see  what  a  paltry  few  there  are  Avho  can  say 
they  know  that  God  is  using  them  to  bring  other  souls  one  by  one  into 
His  Kingdom.  We  are  cowards  about  Christian  work ;  and  many  a 
man  will  offer  himself  to  the  mission  boards  without  having  gone 
through  the  training  at  home  of  bringing  souls  to  Christ.  Yoia  may 
have  a  theological  education,  you  might  pass  all  the  physical  tests,  have 
an  exceptional  character,  a  good  Christian  spirit ;  but  you  may  lack  the 
most  essential  Christian  qualification  of  all,  that  is,  the  faculty  of  "  soul 


The  World's  Coxquest.  11 

winning."  Can  you  rely  upon  yourself  when  you  are  thrown  with  a 
man  to  speak  to  him  of  the  Gospel,  beginning  at  the  point  where  you 
have  some  sympathy  -wath  him,  and  never  stopping  until  you  have  got 
him  into  the  kingdom?  The  Apostle  Paul  was  a  personal  worker, 
and  that  was  what  made  him  the  tremendous  success  that  he  was. 

There  was  a  fine  letter  by  Dr.  Ashmore  in  the  Indej>endent  a  year 
or  two  ago,  in  which  he  said  he  wanted  to  enter  a  protest  against  the 
tendency  he  had  seen  in  himself  and  many  others  of  aiming  at  getting 
in  the  native  church  in  China  only  that  degree  of  Christian  consecra- 
tion we  have  got  here  at  home.  And  that  brings  me  to  the  last  thing 
about  Paul's  methods.  All  of  lis  know  that,  so  far  as  we  are  con- 
cerned, the  accusation  that  the  church  is  not  doing  its  duty  here  is  true. 
Are  we  then  going  to  set  an  example  to  heathen  lands  what  we  confess 
to  be  a  falling  short  of  our  ideal  and  obligation  here,  or  are  we 
going  to  expect  of  them  what  Paul  expected  of  the  little  group  in 
Ephesus  —  the  same  'degree  of  poAver,  the  same  fervency  of  life,  the 
same  spiritual  purposes  that  he  found  in  himself  and  the  best  Christians 
he  knew  ? 

So  much  for  Paul's  methods.  There  is  time  to  glance  but  for  a 
single  moment  at  Paul's  Message.  Let  it  be  enough  to  touch  upon 
a  few  great  truths  in  it.  I  think  there  is  truth  in  the  old-fashioned 
notion  that  Paul's  missionary  Gospel  is  expressed  best  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Romans.  I  know  we  are  told  that  in  parts  of  the  Gospels  we  shall 
probably  find  a  better  statement  of  the  missionary  message ;  but  I 
doubt  whether  there  is  enough  of  Christ  crucified  in  the  Gospels.  Dr. 
Nevius  used  chiefly  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  in  training -his  classes. 
Down  in  the  Mexican  church  they  have  a  little  jest  in  Spanish  about 
the  "  Pistols  "  of  the  Romanists,  and  the  "  Epistle  to  the  Romans,"  as 
characteristics  distinguishing  the  classes.  You  can  find  in  Romans  the 
backbone  of  Paul's  missionary  teaching..  He  believed  in  the  world- 
wide love  of  God ;  that  he  could  address  any  man  in  the  world,  "  My 
brother,  the  love  of  God  includes  you."     Trench's  large  faith  was  his  : 

"  I  say  to  thee,  do  tliou  repeat, 
To  the  first  man  thou  mayest  meet 
In  highway,  lane,  or  open  street, 
That  he  and  I  and  all  men  move 
Under  a  canopy  of  love 
As  broad  as  God's  blue  heaven  above." 

He  believed,  secondly,  in  the  universality  and  the  deadliness  of  sin, 
and,  thirdly,  that  the  love  of  God  so  detested  that  sin  that  He  sent  His 
only  Son  to  conquer  and  obliterate  it.  He  came  not  merely  offering 
a  new  faith,  but  as  one  who  proclaimed  the  only  name  given  under 
heaven  among  men  whereby  we  must  be  saved,  and  who  rested  in  the 
quiet  confidence  of  assured  triumph. 


12  'I'liio  Wokld's  Conquest. 

There  are  two  things  about  Paul's  message  which  impress  us :  the 
first  was  the  wholeness  of  it.  If  he  were  living  to-day  he  would 
preach  of  those  "  Murdered  Millions  "  to  reach  whom  is  one  of  the  pur- 
poses of  Medical  Missions,  and  he  would  sympathize  with  the  industrial 
work  of  Industrial  Missions.  He  was  constantly  talking  about  men's 
bodies  as  belonging  to  Christ.  "  Ye  are  Christ's,"  was  his  teaching, 
"  Ye,  with  mind  and  heart,  with  body  and  soul,  with  tastes,  passions, 
and  loves,  are  all  Christ's." 

The  second  thing  was  its  simplicity.  It  was  so  simple  that  a 
little  child  could  preach  his  Gospel.  "I  determined  not  to  know 
anything  among  you,  save  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified "  ■ —  that 
was  the  burden  of  it  all.  "  This  is  a  faithful  saying  and  worthy  of  all 
acceptation,  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners ;  of 
whom  I  am  chief."  Fellow  students,  that  is  our  Gospel.  Don't  preach 
a  system  of  truth.  What  good  is  a  system  of  truth  anyhow  ?  Don't 
preach  salvation ;  don't  preach  redemption.  Preach  the  Saviour. 
Preach  the  Redeemer.  What  is  wanted  the  world  round  is  not  more 
truth  ;  it  is  a  Divine  Person.  What  is  wanted  is  not  a  larger  doctrine  ; 
it  is  the  advent  of  the  Divine  life.  And  however  much  we  shall  fail, 
as  we  surely  shall  fail,  if  we  go  preaching  a  large  and  concrete  and 
well-connected  system,  we  shall  never  fail  if  we  go  preaching  the  sim- 
ple, the  omnipotent,  the  irresistible  Christ.  I  took  up  in  reading  this 
afternoon  this  little  book  of  Dr.  Nevius,  and  opened  at  this  passage  : 
"  When  the  time  comes  to  your  practically  answering  the  question, 
How  shall  I  begin  it,  I  should  say  do  as  the  Apostle  did,  —  Go  every- 
where, preaching  the  Gospel.  You  can't  know  where  there  may  be 
someone  waiting  for  you  and  someone  to  whom  you  have  been  sent. 
Ask  for  direction.  Christ's  sheep  will  hear  His  voice.  How  shall  we 
find  them?  Go  everywhere,  and  wherever  there  are  Christ's  sheep 
they  will  respond  to  His  call.  Then  you  will  have  a  beginning  through 
which  to  work,  and  one  of  God's  own  choosing." 

And  now,  lastly,  Paul's  Missionary  Motive.  He  was  a  man  of  spir- 
ituality of  life  and  method.  Ask  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associ- 
ation Secretaries  here  this  evening  what  the  great  temptation  of  their 
life  is,  they  will  tell  you  secularization.  The  missionaries  here  would 
tell  you  the  same  thing.  If  you  should  ask  the  Secretaries  of  the 
Mission  Boards  what  they  find  the  great  obstacle,  they  would  tell  you 
that  many  men  have  been  recalled  because  they  have  been  secularized, 
so  engrossed  in  the  indirections  and  secondaries  of  method  that  they 
came  to  feel  that  the  missionary  work  was  a  mechanical  and  mercenary 
thing,  rather  than  a  spontaneous  and  loving  life.  Perhaps  they  were 
managing  a  missionary  press  or  doing  necessary  missionary  work,  and 
found  the  influences  too  strong,  and  were  swept  into  a  weakened 
spiritual  life.     Tlie  Apostle  Paul  escaped  that  temptation.      Pie  did 


The  World's  Conquest.  13 

not  "  entangle  himself  with  the  affairs  of  life  " ;  he  had  control  of  no 
funds;  he  relied  only  upon  the  power  of  the  Gospel,  and  kept  unim- 
paired to  the  very  end  the  warmth  and  purity  of  his  Christian  zeal. 

Secondly,  you  will  notice  his  intense,  indomitable  energy,  which  he 
showed  first  of  all  in  the  intense  vigor  of  his  work  and  again  in  his 
entire  devotion  to  that  work.  He  called  the  Ephesian  Elders  at 
Miletus  to  witness  that  he  had  worked  among  them  night  and  day. 
We  see  it  thirdly  in  that  he  was  always  moving.  He  was  not  the  kind 
of  man  to  sit  down  and  say,  "  I  have  no  direct  leading  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  now,  I  will  wait  until  I  get  some."  He  was  a  man  who  said, 
"  That  is  my  mark,  I  have  set  it  before  me ;  by  the  help  of  the  best 
light  God  has  given  me  I  have  chosen  it,  and  nothing  save  God  can 
swerve  me  aside  until  I  reach  it."  He  went  up  to  Mysia  and,  having 
no  special  call,  said,  "  I  will  turn  aside  to  preach  the  Gospel  in  Bithy- 
nia."  But  the  Spii-it  said,  "  No,  Paul,"  In  a  few  hours  he  had  a  vision 
that  took  him  into  Macedonia.  He  belonged  to  that  class  of  men  who  go 
until  they  are  stopped  or  turned ;  not  to  that  class  that  stand  still  until 
they  are  pushed.  You  hear  many  a  man  say,  "  I  am  willing  to  go  to  the 
foreign  field,"  but  it  is  the  same  kind  of  willingness  as  that  of  a  balk- 
ing horse.  Why  does  not  the  horse  go  if  he  is  willing  to  go  ?  Let 
men  move.  "  Even  God  can't  switch  motionless  engines."  Paul's 
energy  is  manifest  farther  in  his  indifference  to  opposition  or  suffering. 
He  stood  once  before  an  assemblage  where  he  was  called  a  crazy  man. 
It  was  a  charge  that  hurt.  But  he  had  written  to  the  Corinthians, 
"  With  me  it  is  a  very  small  thing  that  I  should  be  judged  of  you,  or 
of  man's  judgment :  yea  I  judge  not  mine  own  self  *  *  *  He  that 
judgeth  me  is  the  Lord."  And  though  twice  he  tells  us  of  his  hard- 
ships, and  the  sufferings  he  has  gone  through,  there  is  no  complaint, 
no  shadow  of  turning  back.     His  face  was  set  like  a  flint. 

"  Or  if  the  ache  of  travel  or  of  toil 
Would  sometimes  bring  a  sliort,  sharp  cry  of  pain 
From  agony  of  fever,  blain  and  boil, 
'Twas  but  to  crush  it  down,  and  on  again." 

He  was  a  true  fatalist.  He  knew  that  he  was  immortal  until  his 
work  was  done,  and  then  he  was  immortal  still ;  and  he  had  no  fear  of 
what  should  befall  him.  "  Let  death  come,  I  care  not  for  death,"  he 
said.  "  My  pleasure  is  to  do  the  will  of  Him  that  sent  me  and  to  finish 
the  course  upon  which  He  sent  me.  And  if  death  come  by  His  provi- 
dence in  the  doing  of  the  errand  upon  which  He  sent  me,  well  and 
good."  Let  it  come  to  us  so,  if  need  be.  What  matter  is  it  that  hard- 
ship and  suffering  should  come ;  what  matter  that  the  greater  afiliction 
of  large  prosperity  should  come,  if  only  in  all  things  we  are  walking  in 
the  path  upon  which  the  Lord  has  set  our  feet. 


14  The  World's  Conquest. 

And  you  can  see  Paul's  energy  in  one  other  thing,  in  his  lack  of 
patience  with  trifling  contentions.  The  work  of  God  was  of  too  vital 
importance  to  him  to  have  it  hampered  by  disputes  about  unessential 
things.  We  Presbyterians  and  Methodists  have  no  business  being 
apart  on  questions  of  doctrine  and  polity.  These  things  on  which  we 
differ  are  not  things  connected  with  the  great  vital  purpose  of  the  Church 
of  God  in  the  world.  Just  the  other  day,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Bap- 
tist Social  Union  in  New  York,  Dr.  Bradford  of  New  Jersey  declared 
that  the  Church  was  sent  into  the  world  for  three  purposes  :  to  alleviate 
its  suffering,  to  comfort  its  sorrow,  and  to  save  it  from  its  sin ;  and  that 
anything  apart  from  those  three  great  purposes  was  an  unessential 
thing,  on  which  we  have  no  business  to  be  at  variance.  This  may  not 
be  a  definitive  statement,  but  it  is  pretty  nearly  right ;  and  when  we 
have  once  decided  what  the  purpose  of  the  Church  is,  namely  to  do 
the  work  Christ  sent  us  here  to  do,  which  is  to  preach  and  live  His 
simple  Gospel  and  leave  the  result  to  Him,  we  have  no  business  to  let 
the  differences  on  unessential  points  delay  the  full  accomplishment  of 
that  purpose. 

Paul's  energy  made  him  a  leader  among  men.  Was  he  on  an  old 
ship  drifting  fast  to  its  wreck  ?  He  stood  head  and  shoulders  above 
captain,  centurion,  and  crew.  Every  missionary  who  has  caught  his 
spirit  since  has  become  a  leader  of  men.  David  Livingstone  was  a 
leader  always.  They  said  of  Dr.  Nevius  that  in  any  company  men  soon 
recognized  him  as  one  of  God's  noblemen  with  the  kingly  gifts  of  lead- 
ership and  control.  One  of  the  first  questions  a  missionary  society 
will  ask  about  you  is,  "  Have  you  the  gift  of  leading  men  ?  Are  you  in 
any  sense  a  general,  or  have  you  got  the  capacities  of  a  general  in  you? 
Or  are  you  going  to  be  one  of  the  men  who  sit  down  alone  to  work  by 
themselves,  doing  a  noble  work,  but  not  a  large  and  comprehensive 
work,  commanding  and  directing  the  energies  of  multitudes '? " 

I  have  spoken  about  Paul's  spirituality  and  energy.  Let  us  note 
that  this  energy  was  not  the  strong  power  of  a  mere  mechanism,  but  a 
great  loving  heart  affection.  Paul  was  not  an  evangelizing  machine. 
He  had  energy,  vital  power,  tremendous,  irresistible  might,  and  more. 
Like  Livingstone,  he  coupled  with  them  the  contagious  enthusiasm  of 
a  burning,  loving  soul.  He  was  the  kind  of  a  man  to  whom  people  like 
to  tie.  He  was  continually  meeting  young  men  who  fell  in  love  with 
him  and  with  whom  he  fell  in  love.  He  had  a  miserable  experience  at 
Athens  one  time,  which  he  wanted  never  to  repeat,  when  he  was 
there  alone  without  the  sympathy  of  warm  hearts.  He  did  not  take 
the  best  berth  in  a  stateroom,  the  best  food  at  the  table,  the 
best  chair  in  the  room  where  he  happened  to  be.  I  imagine 
he  gave  his  companions  the  best  that  could  be  had.  Do  we  ?  Bishop 
Thoburn  said  once,  if  he  crossed  the  ocean  with  outgoing  missionaries 


The  World's  Conquest.  15 

he  was  able  to  appreciate  what  kind  of  men  they  were  by  noticing  their 
ways.  Did  they  appropriate  the  best  things  themselves  ?  Then  they 
were  not  the  men  he  wanted  to  be  allied  with. 

Yet  in  Paul  there  was  no  note  of  asceticism.  He  had  given  up 
everything  that  he  had,  and  yet  he  never  murmured  or  complained.  He 
never  said,  "  I  have  abandoned  all  for  the  kingdom  of  God ;  lionize  me." 

The  Apostle  l*aul  was  a  man  of  great,  joyful  cheerfulness  of  spirit. 
Let  a  man  go  to  the  mission  field  now  and  let  him  find  the  work  harder 
than  he  anticipated,  as  he  certainly  will ;  let  him  find  the  results  come 
in  much  more  slowl}^  than  he  hoped,  as  they  certainly  will ;  and  he 
will  find  it  hard  to  be  buoyantly  happy.  Coleridge  Patteson  was  ask- 
ing for  Pauline  men  when  he  asked  for  "bright,  cheerful,  earnest 
fellows." 

And  he  was  a  lover  of  heroic  conceptions  and  plans.  He  was  proud 
of  his  work,  not  ashamed  of  it.  If  men  told  him  it  was  a  harum-scarum 
scheme  he  had  undertaken,  he  said,  "  All  right ;  I  magnify  my  mission." 
Charles  Dickens  said  one  time  that  a  man  could  not  make  a  success  of 
anything  if  he  did  not  believe  that  thing  was  the  biggest  thing  in  the 
world  that  needed  doing.  So  we  shall  be  able  to  accomplish  our 
best  work  only  as  we  are  not  ashamed  of  the  task  God  gives  us.  How 
many  of  us  were  ashamed  to  read  our  Bibles  on  the  train  on  the  way 
here,  or  to  speak  to  those  who  fell  under  our  influence  about  their  own 
relations  to  Christ  ?  How  many  hesitate  to  tell  people  that  they  are 
going  as  foreign  missionaries  ?  We  shall  not  accomplish  very  much 
for  God  unless  we  believe  that  the  task  to  which  he  has  called  us  is 
the  most  glorious  task  in  all  this  world,  a  task  of  infinite  privilege,  as 
Paul  believed  it  to  be,  one  Avhich  "  archangels  might  envy,"  in  Robert 
Moffat's  judgment  and  words. 

Coupled  with  this  you  find  in  him  those  gentler  qualities  which 
every  missionary  must  have.  He  was  gentle  towards  his  converts  as 
"a  nurse  cherishing  her  children."  He  coupled  with  that  gentleness 
sweetest  tenderness.  It  was  he  who  thought  the  people  on  board  the 
fast  sinking  ship  were  hungry  and  needed  food.  He  joined  with  this 
a  sympathy  as  broad  as  the  whole  round  world.  It  did  not  matter  to 
him  that  other  people  did  not  agree  exactly  with  him  or  his  methods. 
He  said,  "  Let  be  only  so  .lesus  Christ  is  preached."  It  did  not  mat- 
ter to  him  that  he  must  give  up  some  of  his  prejudices  in  order  to  reach 
some  of  those  whom  he  desired  to  reach.  As  a  .Jew  to  Jews,  as  a 
Roman  to  the  Romans,  as  a  slave  to  slaves,  he  is  A\411ing  to  go.  This 
man  gathered  up  into  himself  far  more  truly  than  Charles  Kingsley 
could  those  noble  attributes  which  the  loving  hand  of  his  wife  ascribed 
to  him  on  the  title  page  of  her  loving  story  of  his  life : 

"  To  the  beloved  memory  of  a  righteous  man,  who  loved  truth 
above  all  things.     A  man  of  untai-nished  honor,  loyal  and  chivalrous. 


16  The  World's  Conquest. 

gentle  and  strong,  modest  and  humble,  pitiful  to  the  weak,  yearning 
after  the  erring,  stern  to  all  forms  of  wrong  and  oppression,  yet  most 
stern  towards  himself,  who  being  angry,  yet  sinned  not.  Whose  high- 
est virtues  were  known  only  to  his  \vife,  his  children,  his  servants,  and 
the  poor.  Who  lived  in  the  presence  of  God  here,  and,  passing  through 
the  grave  and  gate  of  death,  now  liveth  unto  God  forevermore." 

If  you  ask  the  secret  of  it  all  you  can  find  it  written  clearly  in  his 
revelation  of  his  spiritual  life.  He  knew  the  Son  of  God.  He  exem- 
plified the  truth  of  the  erroneous  description  of  Spinoza,  "  a  God-intox- 
icated man."  Christian  life  had  begun  with  a  vision  of  Christ.  It  was 
the  strength  of  his  preaching  that  all  that  he  said  was  simply  a  telling 
forth  of  that  vision.  He  conceived  this  to  be  his  mission  :  "  And  when 
we  were  all  fallen  to  the  earth  I  heard  a  voice  *  *  *  and  I  said.  Who 
art  Thou,  Lord?  And  He  said,  I  am  Jesus,  whom  thou  persecutest. 
But  rise,  and  stand  upon  thy  feet:  for  I  have  appeared  unto  thee  for  this 
jiurpose,  to  make  thee  a  minister  and  a  vnttiess  both  of  these  things  tohich 
thou  hast  seen.,  and  of  those  things  in  the  which  I  will  appear  unto 
theeP  Fellow  students,  have  you  seen  Jesus  Christ?  If  you  have  not, 
what  will  you  tell  the  people  to  whom  you  are  going?  Apart  from 
Him  you  have  nothing  of  eternal  value  to  tell  them  that  they  cannot 
learn  for  themselves.  If  you  have  not  yourselves  had  the  scales  fall 
from  your  eyes  and  caught  the  vision  of  the  glorified  Son  of  God,  how 
are  you  qualified  to  preach  the  Son  of  God  to  men  ?  It  was  Paul's 
clear  vision  and  his  repetition  of  what  he  saw  in  that  vision  that  made 
him  a  worker  for  Christ  not  to  be  gainsaid  or  withstood.  And  that 
vision  wrought  itself  out  in  his  faith  as  he  went  out,  ignorant  of  his  way 
and  leaning  upon  Christ.  It  wrought  itself  out  in  his  love,  and  he 
stood  the  old  test  Avhich  used  to  be  applied  to  Christians  half  in 
mockery,  "  Are  you  willing  to  be  damned  for  the  glory  of  God  ?  "  when 
he  said,  "  I  could  wish  that  myself  were  accursed  from  Christ  for  my 
brethren." 

Paul  himself  said  plainly  that  as  far  as  he  had  it  in  his  power  his 
purpose  was  the  evangelization  of  the  world.  "  From  Jerusalem  and 
round  about  unto  Illyricum,  I  have  fully  preached  the  Gospel  of 
Christ.  Yea,  so  have  I  been  ambitious,"  as  the  marginal  reading 
has  it,  "  to  preach  the  Gospel,  not  where  Christ  was  named,  lest 
I  should  build  upon  another  man's  foundation  :  But,  as  it  is  writ- 
ten, To  whom  He  was  not  spoken  of,  they  shall  see :  and  they  that 
have  not  heard  shall  understand."  And  he  calls  every  man  who  in 
the  plans  of  God  can  follow  in  his  footsteps  to  do  so.  This  volun- 
teer movement  stands  for  the  main  end  of  the  life  of  the  Apostle 
Paul.  And  he  found  his  motive  in  pleasing  Jesus.  With  the  verse 
just  quoted  we  may  combine  the  other  that  uses  the  word  ambitious  in 
one  of  the  three  times  it  is  used  in  the   Bible :  "  Wherefore  we  are 


The  World's  Conquest.  17 

ambitious  that  we  may  be  well  pleasing  to  Him."  His  desire  to  please 
Christ  manifests  itself  in  his  anxiety  to  imitate  Him ;  as  he  wrote  to 
the  Phillipians  that  the  same  mind  must  be  in  them  that  was  in  Christ, 
"  who,  being  in  the  form  of  God,  counted  it  not  a  prize  to  be  on  an 
equality  with  God,  but  emptied  Himself,  taking  the  form  of  |a  servant, 
being  made  in  the  likeness  of  men ;  and  being  found  in  fashion  as  a 
man.  He  humbled  Himself,  becoming  obedient  even  unto  death."  And 
more  than  once  he  told  those  who  followed  him  to  be  still  closer 
followers  and  imitators  of  him  even  as  he  was  also  of  Christ.  As 
he  grew  older  the  desire  to  please  Christ  began  to  express  itself  in 
yet  other  ligures,  which  he  learned  from  the  Roman  soldiers  with 
whom  he  was  thrown  into  ever  closer  contact,  the  military  symbols 
which  stud  all  his  later  writings.  He  began  to  think  of  his  military 
duties  to  his  Captain,  and  wrote  in  the  last  letter  he  ever  penned,  "  No 
man  that  warreth  entangleth  himself  with  the  affairs  of  this  life ;  that 
he  may  please  him  who  hath  chosen  him  to  be  a  soldier."  As  the 
longing  to  please  the  Commander  had  nerved  him  the  last  years  of  his 
life,  it  nerved  him  even  unto  the  end.  And  as  the  shadows  gathered 
fast  around  his  head,  and  the  last  grains  of  sand  slipped  through  his 
hour-glass,  we  see  him  kneeling  down  in  the  soldier's  spirit  and 
writing  the  last  trembling  lines  (or  were  they  firm  and  strong?)  of 
his  last  epistle :  "  For  I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered,  and  the  time 
of  my  departure  is  at  hand.  I  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have 
finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith :  henceforth  there  is  laid  up 
for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous 
judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  day :  and  not  to  me  only,  but  unto 
all  them  also  that  love  His  appearing."  In  the  strength  of  that 
conviction  he  was  led  out  of  the  gates  of  Rome.  Just  beyond  the 
walls  of  the  imperial  city  the  old  warrior  breathed  his  last,  and  the 
warrior  spirit  went  home  to  its  rest  at  the  feet  of  the  Great  Com- 
mander. 

My  fellow  students,  since  that  time,  in  the  noble  army  of  martyrs, 
who  in  the  courts  of  the  upper  city  sing  to-night  the  song  of  Moses 
and  the  Lamb,  there  have  been  many  whose  inestimable  privilege  it  has 
been  to  follow  both  in  life  and  in  death  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Apostle 
Paul.  RajTuond  Lull,  Coleridge  Patteson,  John  Williams,  James 
Hannington  are  but  a  few  of  those  who  having  served  well  here  have 
now  entered  into  rest  more  than  conquerors. 

In  their  footsteps  may  we  follow !  We  may  not  be  called  to  the 
martyr  death  ;  thank  God,  we  shall  not  be  !  It  is  far  less  important  to 
die  the  martyi*  death  than  to  live  the  martyi-  life.  Men  who  have  the 
spirit  to  die  that  death  are  too  valuable  to  be  lost  that  way.  And  there 
is  more  need  that  you  and  I  should  nerve  ourselves  in  these  days 
to  live  that  life  that  is  slain  to  the  world,  that  is  dead  to  all  selfish 


18  The  World's  Conquest. 

impulses,  that  is  quick  to  love  and  to  do  the  loving  service  of  the  living 
God.  Eighteen  hundred  years  have  passed  since  this  life  of  which  we 
have  been  speaking  vanished  out  of  this  world  ;  eighteen  hundred  busy, 
eventful,  fateful  years,  and  you  and  I  stand  facing  new  conditions. 
Can  you  justify  to  God  your  failure  to  live  a  better  life  than  Paul's? 
He  lived  in  circumstances  less  propitious,  faced  greater  difficulties,  was 
confronted  with  problems  more  perplexing  than  ours.  Why  should 
we  not  be  Pauls  ?  Is  there  no  need  to-day  of  the  work  that  he  did  ? 
Has  the  arm  of  God  failed  so  that  it  can  no  longer  sustain  his  servants 
as  it  sustained  Paul  ?  Or  should  not  we  go  forth  from  these  days  to  a 
life  that  shall  approach  his,  and  in  some  true  measure  resemble  the 
larger  life  of  Him  who  was  Paul's  inspiration  and  reward  ? 

The  Apostle  Paul  began  his  large  missionary  career  with  a  dream 
of  heathen  need.  You  and  I  begin  ours  with  a  real  vision.  We  have 
seen  in  our  land,  we  have  seen  in  their  own  lands,  the  faces  of  those 
who  speak  the  message  which  the  man  of  Macedonia  spoke  to  Paul, 
and  they  call  us  to  a  life  of  as  much  more  service  and  energy  than  his 
as  the  field  is  wider  and  the  call  more  intense.  O,  may  the  spirit  of 
Paul  and  of  Paul's  God  fall  upon  us  now,  and  give  to  those  of  us  who 
have  eyes  to  see  such  a  glimpse  of  the  risen  and  uplifted  Christ  as 
shall  be  to  each  of  us  the  promise  of  strength  sufficient  for  the  service 
to  which  He  calls  us  here,  and  of  a  larger  and  undimmed  vision  of  His 
face  in  the  land  that  hath  no  need  of  any  sun,  because  the  Lamb  is  the 
light  thereof ! 


SECOND  DAY,  THURSDAY,  MARCH  i,  1894. 

Morning  Session. 

The  devotional  exercises  were  led  by  the  Rev.  W.  R.  Lambeth, 
M.D.,  of  Kobe,  Japan,  The  Rev.  Judson  Smith,  D.D.,  Secretary  of 
the  American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  addressed  the  Conference 
on :  — 

The  Intellectual  Preparation  of  the  Volunteer. 

AVe  begin  at  a  common  point :  the  redeemed  soul,  called  of  God 
and  touched  by  His  Spirit  for  a  special  service.  "We  look  toward  a 
common  end :  the  evangelization  of  the  world  and  the  possession  of 
its  life  for  Jesus  Christ.  We  are  to  consider  this  morning  the  prep- 
aration that  is  needful  for  him  who  is  thus  called,  that  he  may  success- 
fully address  himself  to  his  share  in  that  sublime  work ;  and  the  part 
assigned  to  me  is  the  Intellectual  Preparation. 

I  assume  at  the  outset  that  a  Divine  call  is  indispensable.  No  man 
thrusts  himself  into  this  office.  To  the  man  or  to  the  woman  who  is 
to  stand  in  His  name  among  the  unevangelized,  and  proclaim  the  tidings 
of  great  joy  to  all  people,  there  is  a  call,  as  truly  as  there  was  a  call 
to  the  apostolate. 

It  was  not  every  Christian  who  was  on  the  earth  when  the  Lord 
was  here  that  was  set  in  this  high  office  of  apostle.  Twelve  were 
chosen.  Others  did  their  service  ;  but  to  this  unique  office  only  twelve 
were  called,  and  fitted  for  the  service.  Xo  man  or  woman  thrusts 
himself  into  this  missionary  work.  Those  come  who  have  heard  the 
Divine  call  within  the  silence  of  theii-  own  souls.  They  come  to  whom 
providential  indications  are  given,  closing  doors  here  and  opening  them 
there. 

Thus  it  is  that  we  have  rightly  to  look  for  and  take  as  fundamental, 
in  all  the  discussions  of  the  morning,  the  missionary  spirit  on  the  part 
of  the  volunteer  who  joyfully  gives  strength,  time,  life,  intellect,  power 
of  every  sort,  that  God's  Kingdom  may  come  in  his  day  to  the  whole 
world.  We  have  such  examples  before  us.  They  are  our  inspii*ation. 
As  we  think  of  those  who  have  wrought  in  this  work,  and  as  you, 
young  friends,  look  forward  to  share  in  it,  I  am  sure  your  hearts  have 
again  and  again  been  kindled  as  you  have  discerned  in  them  that 
of  which  I  have  spoken ;  not  simply  Christian  faith.  Christian  devo- 
tion,  but  the  recognition  on  the  part  of  the  redeemed  spirit  of  the  call 


20  The  World's  Conquest. 

of  the  Redeemer  to  go  hence  into  the  midst  of  them  that  know  not 
Christ,  to  proclaim  His  glorious  name. 

"  They  climb  the  steep  ascent  of  Heaven, 
Through  peril,  toil,  and  pain. 
Oh,  God,  to  us  may  grace  be  given 
To  follow  in  their  train  ! " 

Now,  at  the  outset,  I  lay  down  this  general  proposition  :  Educa- 
tion and  mental  culture  are  indispensable  to  any  great  undertaking. 
All  our  civilized  life  in  these  later  days  and  in  all  former  time  rests 
upon  this  basis.  It  is  the  continual  effort  in  every  condition  of  ad- 
vanced life  to  find  wise  men,  to  secure  leaders,  to  call  up  to  the  high 
places  those  who  have  been  prepared  for  their  great  tasks.  Knowledge 
is  power  in  missionary  work  as  in  everything  else.  Mental  discipline, 
mental  training,  is  power.  It  brings  out  the  man  ;  it  sets  free  his  facul- 
ties, makes  him  possessor  of  himself,  gives  him  horizon,  fills  him  with 
resources,  makes  him  twice  the  man  he  would  be  without  it.  Of  two 
men  equally  gifted  in  all  other  respects,  equally  furnished  for  a  given 
work,  the  man  who  has  education  and  thorough  training,  whose  mind 
is  truly  disciplined,  will  do  more  work,  will  do  better  work,  will  bring 
more  things  to  pass  and  better  things  to  pass,  by  reason  of  the  special 
qualification  and  culture  that  he  possesses.  These  things  are  said  to 
you,  students,  day  by  day.  You  believe  in  them  as  you  believe  in  the 
light,  and  you  walk  in  their  light. 

It  is  sometimes  said,  how  many  educated  fools  there  are ;  how 
many  men  are  apparently  unfitted  for  practical  life  by  their  education. 
Conceit  is  a  personal  weakness ;  but  education  does  not  lead  to  pride 
or  conceit.  These  are  personal  defects,  moral  defects.  Education  is 
the  opening  of  the  eyes,  the  enlargement  of  the  heart,  the  broadening 
of  the  horizon ;  it  is  the  fitting  of  the  man  to  do  what  God  meant  he 
should  do,  in  the  way  God  made  him  to  do  it.  It  is  the  want  of  edu- 
cation, not  its  full  possession,  that  fosters  conceit.  As  the  old  adage 
has  it : 

"  A  little  learning  is  a  dangerous  thing. 
Drink  deep,  or  taste  not  the  Pierian  Spring. 
There  shallow  draughts  intoxicate  the  brain, 
But  drinking  largely  sobers  us  again. 

The  great  men  in  any  field  of  service,  in  any  generation  of  the 
world's  history,  have  been  trained  men,  the  peers  of  the  best  of 
their  times,  in  knowledge,  in  faculty,  in  trained  resource. 

Now,  passing  these  axiomatic  facts,  I  come  to  the  main  proposition : 
the  foreign  missionary  work  of  our  day  demands  the  highest  possible 
intellectual  preparation.  I  fix  no  standard ;  but,  upon  the  general 
grounds  I  have  already  stated,  I  simply  lay  down  the  general  proposition 
that  the  thorough  intellectual  preparation  of  missionaries  is  indispensable 


The  World's  Conquest.  21 

to  their  success.  Look  at  the  work  which  our  missionary  forces  the 
wide  world  over  are  attempting.  It  is  the  vastest  work  that  is  now 
on  foot  or  ever  has  been  attempted.  The  building  of  an  empire 
like  that  of  Alexander  is  a  puny  task  compared  to  this,  to  which  our 
brethren  and  sisters  on  the  foreign  field  are  devoting  life  and  strength 
and  all  other  gifts.  For  they  attempt  not  simply  once  to  speak  the 
word  of  salvation  the  wide  woi'ld  around  so  that  every  ear  shall  hear  it 
—  that  is  the  beginning;  but  more  than  that,  they  are  planning 
deliberately,  with  the  force  of  profound  conviction  and  in  obedience  to  a 
summons  from  the  open  Heavens,  to  take  possession  of  the  earth  for 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

That  is  the  work  of  the  foreign  missionary  to-day, —  not  simply  to 
fill  India  and  its  two  hundred  and  eighty  millions  with  one  flash  of 
the  Gospel  light,  and  so  throw  off  our  responsibility ;  but  to  preach  the 
Gospel  in  India  to-day,  to-morrow,  this  year,  next  year,  twenty-five 
years,  a  century,  until  the  Gospel  has  possessed  itself  of  the  life  of 
India,  and  turned  her  face  toward  Jesus  Christ  and  the  mighty  future 
He  is  preparing  for  her  people.  We  do  not  go  to  China  expecting  in  a 
few  years  to  complete  our  work.  We  go  there  for  a  task  that  may 
occupy  us  through  two  centuries,  by  all  means  and  in  all  ways  to 
arouse  the  attention  of  that  great  people,  to  turn  their  faces  away  from 
the  past  towards  the  future  that  Christ  would  have  them  possess,  until 
China  becomes  a  Christian  nation.  We  seek  the  conversion  of  indi- 
vidual Chinese  as  a  beginning ;  but  we  seek  more  than  this  internal 
revolution  of  individual  life, —  we  seek  the  renovation  of  family  and 
social  life,  we  seek  to  fill  the  national  life  of  Cnina  with  Christian 
sentiment,  her  heart  with  Christian  aspirations,  that  she  may  take  her 
place  among  the  mighty  powers  of  the  world,  and  serve  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  in  all  the  ways  of  His  Kingdom. 

This  is  the  work  we  attempt,  not  simply  in  one  or  two  nations,  but 
in  all  the  regions  of  the  earth.  Wherever  Christ  is  not  known  we  are 
to  proclaim  Him,  and  to  see  as  far  as  we  may  that  He  is  enthroned  in 
hearts,  in  institutions,  and  in  national  life.  It  is  more  than  the  build- 
ing of  a  great  empire,  like  that  on  which  the  Scipios  and  the  Marcelli, 
the  Gracchi  and  the  Caesars  wrought ;  it  is  more  than  the  planting  and 
moulding  of  a  nation  and  civilization  like  that  of  England.  It  is  the 
filling  of  the  wide  world  with  the  truth  and  Spirit  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
the  establishment  of  His  eternal  Kingdom  in  all  the  earth.  But  one 
such  movement  is  possible  in  the  whole  circle  of  human  history. 

If  we  look  over  history,  we  find  at  once  that  the  great  missionaries 
whom  we  revere  were  men  of  highly  trained  minds,  intellectually  the 
leaders  of  their  times.  You  heard  last  evening  with  thrilling  hearts 
of  the  great  missionary  apostle,  who  was  a  master  of  the  learning  of 
his  times,  able  to  make  himself  a  Roman  to  the  Romans,  a  Greek  to 


22  The  World's  Conquest. 

the  Greeks,  and  a  man  everywhere  to  sinful  and  lost  men,  that  he 
might  bring  home  to  them  the  gracious  truths  of  Jesus  Christ.  Paul 
is  without  a  superior  in  intellectual  training  and  power  in  the  age  to 
which  he  belonged.  Think  of  Irennsus,  the  great  missionary  to  the 
martyr  churches  of  Lyons  and  Vienne.  Think  of  St.  Patrick,  who 
won  Ireland  to  the  faith.  Think  of  Boniface,  who  won  Germany  and 
organized  Christianity  there.  Think  of  Cyril  and  Methodius,  giving 
letters  with  the  Christian  faith  to  the  peoples  of  the  East,  and  winning 
Scandinavia  to  the  Lord.  Think  of  the  missionaries  of  later  years : 
Carey,  of  India,  making  the  Bible  accessible  to  millions  ere  his  death, 
ranking  with  the  learned  men  of  his  time.  Think  of  Judson,  giving 
the  Bible  to  Burmah,  the  peer  of  any  man  in  America  in  his  day,  and 
an  intellectual  leader  among  the  great  hosts*  abroad.  You  say  that  all 
missionaries  are  not  equal  to  these.  I  grant  it.  But  to  whom  do  we 
point  when  we  would  describe  this  cause,  and  lift  up  our  hearts  to  its 
greatness?  It  is  to  these  men,  who  were  trained  men,  generals  every 
one  of  them  ;  not  simply  in  native  endowments,  but  in  trained  and  de- 
veloped power.  And  their  learning  did  not  fetter  them,  but  helped 
them  win  their  great  success. 

I  pass  in  the  next  place  to  speak  a  little  more  particularly  of  the 
work  which  the  missionary  has  to  do,  which  shows  still  further  why 
this  intellectual  preparation  of  which  I  speak  is  so  needful.  In  the 
first  place,  there  is  the  language  of  the  people  to  be  studied  and  mas- 
tered, so  that  as  nearly  as  possible  it  shall  be  in  his  power  to  speak  it 
as  the  i^eople  speak  it,  with  the  idioms  they  use,  with  the  sense  which 
each  word  or  sentence  convej^s  to  them,  so  that  he  may  the  more 
effectively  bring  the  Gospel  to  them,  so  that  he  may  comprehend 
their  feeling  and  enter  into  their  thought.  This  work  of  acquiring  the 
language  is  simply  indispensable.  There  is  no  spot  on  earth  where 
foreign  missionary  work  can  be  done  in  the  English  tongue.  The  man 
is  fettered  who  cannot  speak  the  language  of  the  people  among  whom 
he  labors.  Now  you,  young  men,  have  mastered  Greek  and  Latin,  you 
have  studied  French  and  German.  You  have  a  task  quite  as  hard 
when  you  undertake  the  mastery  of  a  foreign  language.  You  go  to 
India;  you  have  there  the  Tamil,  or  the  Maratha,  or  some  other 
tongue,  to  learn.  Not  an  easy  thing.  You  go  to  China,  and  it  will 
be  two  years  before  you  can  begin  to  preach  with  effect ;  because  wild 
preaching,  with  deficient  knowledge  of  the  language,  is  not  very  profit- 
able, or  edifying,  or  effective.  The  reason  why,  when  we  want  mission- 
arj  workers,  we  go  straight  to  the  colleges,  is  that  there  is  where  men 
are  trained  to  acquire  language  in  this  way,  that  is  where  the  facility 
is  secured.  We  cannot  say  that  every  man  must  have  a  college  educa- 
tion in  order  to  do  this  effective  work ;  but  that  certainly  is  the  rule. 

But  there  must  be  more  than  a  mastery  of  the  language.      The 


The  World's  Conquest.  23 

spirit  of  the  people  must  be  mastered.  Tlie  institutions  of  the  people 
must  be  studied,  their  literature  known,  their  philosophy  mastered, 
their  faith  understood ;  in  a  word,  the  people  must  be  studied  and  un- 
derstood in  all  the  variety  of  their  life.  That  is  a  part  of  missionary 
duty;  it  is  a  part  of  the  effective  and  true  preaching  of  the  Gospel; 
because  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  is  not  the  repetition  of  a  certain 
number  of  words,  but  it  is  the  conveying  from  the  mind  of  the  speaker 
over  into  the  mind  of  the  listener  the  very  truth  of  the  Gospel  itself? 
and  not  something  else.  The  Gospel  itself,  the  word  of  God  as  Christ 
Himself  has  authorized  it,  as  the  apostles  themselves  have  written  it  — 
it  is  this  that  has  saving  power,  not  our  poor  travesties  of  it.  The 
more  clearly  the  missionary  is  able  to  deliver  that  precise  message,  the 
more  truly  he  preaches  the  Gospel,  the  greater  his  power. 

Then  we  must  have  churches  organized.  Here  is  the  great  work 
of  the  bishop.  As  soon  as  faith  appears  and  repentance  toward  God, 
men  and  women  are  ready  for  baptism,  and  for  a  public  profession  of 
Christ.  The  church  must  be  organized,  and  it  must  be  supervised. 
As  soon  as  you  have  a  church  you  must  have  native  leaders ;  it  is  not 
the  missionary's  business  to  be  the  pastor  of  a  native  church.  He  is  to 
train  the  native  pastors,  and  guide  them  in  their  duties.  Thus  there 
comes  in  a  work  scarcely  second  to  that  of  the  superintendent  or 
bishop, —  the  training  of  the  native  agents,  the  men  and  women  who  are 
to  extend  the  work  on  the  right  and  on  the  left,  who  are  themselves 
to  become  pillars  in  the  church,  its  guides  and  leaders  in  the  not  dis- 
tant future.  Again  let  me  repeat  it,  our  work  is  not  only  to  preach 
the  Gospel,  but  to  plant  the  institutions  of  the  Gospel ;  to  make  its 
power  permanent  among  the  people  to  whom  we  go;  to  establish 
churches  to  live  on  for  centuries,  as  the  churches  of  England  and  Ger- 
many have  lived,  and  blessed  those  nations.  You  see  the  reason  why 
the  mission  school  must  start  almost  instantaneously,  with  the  view  of 
training  the  native  agency  to  conduct  the  entire  evangelizing  work 
when  the  hand  of  the  missionary  is  at  length  withdrawn.  And  it  is 
only  well  trained  men  and  women  who  can  successfully  direct  these 
schools,  and  train  the  native  leaders  for  their  work. 

Then  there  is  the  scarcely  less  important  work  of  Bible  translation, 
which  is  one  of  the  greatest  benefits  that  the  missionaries  of  our  day 
have  conferred  upon  the  peoples  among  whom  they  have  labored.  No 
man  can  attempt  a  work  of  that  kind  who  is  not  a  trained  man,  thor- 
oughly trained,  both  in  the  knowledge  which  our  schools  give,  and  in 
this  other  knowledge  of  the  people  among  whom  he  labors,  of  which 
I  have  already  spoken. 

A  full  college  course  for  all  and  a  theological  course  also  for  or- 
dained men  constitute  the  normal  preparation  for  missionary  work. 
We  recognize  the  difference  between  the  work  done  by  men  and  by 


24  The  World's  Conquest. 

women  ;  and  we  also  recognize  that  there  are  exceptions  to  the  rule 
thus  stated.  We  admire  the  career  and  influence  of  Horace  Greeley 
and  of  Abraham  Lincoln  ;  but  we  know  that  these  great  men  made 
their  way  to  the  high  eminence  they  won,  not  because  they  lacked  a 
college  training,  but  in  spite  of  this  deficiency.  So  there  are  mission- 
aries of  great  success  whose  intellectual  preparation  was  not  of  the 
highest.  We  rejoice  in  what  these  men  have  wrought ;  we  are  sure 
that  a  thorough  education  would  have  increased  and  enriched  the 
result. 

The  objection  that  such  training  as  I  indicate  requires  too  much 
time  is  not  valid.  The  call  to  missionary  work  includes  a  call  to  pre- 
pare for  it.  The  twelve  apostles  were  kept  three  years  with  our  Lord, 
although  the  world  was  lying  in  wickedness  all  around  them.  Paul 
spent  three  years  in  Arabia  after  the  midday  flash  of  glory  at  Damas- 
cus gate,  although  Asia  and  Greece  and  Rome  were  sunk  in  heathenish 
darkness,  and  were  perishing  without  the  light. 

Delay  for  full  preparation  is  no  loss.  The  man  does  more  in  the 
years  that  remain  than  if  he  began  at  once.  Seven  years  in  college 
and  seminary,  under  able  and  inspiring  teachers,  who  awaken  the  mind 
and  guide  its  search  and  correct  its  judgments,  and  broaden  the  man, 
are  precisely  the  preparation  which  the  missionary  to  India  ori  China, 
to  Turkey  or  Burmah,  to  Africa  or  Polynesia,  needs  to  make  his  labors 
wise,  steady,  enduring.  After  twenty  years  in  the  service  he  will  have 
outstripped  his  brother  of  equal  gifts  who  spent  those  seven  precious 
years  in  the  field  rather  than  in  studies.  Studies  may  be  too  much 
protracted ;  but  the  standard  I  have  named  is  within  the  reach  of  all 
whom  God  calls  to  this  work. 

Every  missionary  is  a  general,  and  must  be  thoroughly  prepared 
for  his  post.  He  initiates  a  great  movement,  and  shapes  its  forces,  and 
directs  its  progress.  He  is  constantly  drawn  upon  for  counsel,  for 
courage,  for  plans,  for  rebukes,  and  for  encouragements.  The  main 
body  of  every  missionary  force  must  be  made  up  of  native  laborers, 
selected  and  trained  and  brought  to  their  posts  by  the  missionary 
leader.  We  are  not  to  furnish  all  the  laborers  for  China  and  India 
from  America  and  England.  The  captains  and  the  soldiers  of  the 
line  must  come  from  the  native  agency.  This  is  the  part  of  economy ; 
and  it  is  also  the  j^art  of  wisdom.  Thus  the  argument  for  the  intel- 
lectual preparation  of  the  leaders  is  both  confirmed  and  emphasized. 

True  missionary  economy  requires  that  only  the  best  be  sent.  The 
cost  of  sending  out  a  missionary  and  supporting  him  in  the  field  is  so 
great,  that  the  duty  of  thorough  preparation  and  careful  selection  be- 
comes imperative.  It  costs  no  more  to  support  a  thoroughly  educated 
man  or  woman  than  it  does  to  support  one  but  partly  educated ;  and 
the  expectation  of  service  is  decidedly  greater.      It  is  true  that  the 


The  World's  Conquest.  25 

ability  of  Christian  churches  has  not  yet  been  fully  tested  in  the  for- 
eign work,  and  we  may  fairly  call  upon  them  to  spend  greater  sums 
upon  this  work.  But  it  is  a  poor  use  of  money  to  send  poorly  quali- 
fied men  when  better  furnished  men  are  to  be  found.  And  we  can 
with  a  better  face  call  for  larger  sums,  if  all  the  time  we  keep  the 
morale  of  the  service  high,  and  can  truly  say  that  we  send  only  the 
best  men.  The  men  we  want,  the  men  the  service  must  have  if  it  is 
to  prosper  and  prevail,  will  not  be  likely  to  offer  in  great  numbers,  if 
they  see  poorly  equipped  men  in  the  fields  and  Boards  inviting  such 
to  go.  There  is  no  arbitrary  standard  of  qualifications ;  every  man 
should  be  considered  on  his  merits.  And  Boards  do  not,  wisely,  tie 
themselves  to  any  fixed  course.  But  the  college  course  is  a  general 
standard  of  thorough  intellectual  training ;  and  the  theological  course 
furnishes  a  ministerial  equipment  universally  recognized  and  approved 
as  suflicient.  And  true  economy  urges  that  such  qualifications  be 
secured. 

The  college  course  is  a  natural  test  of  mental  power  and  manly 
quality.  The  eccentric,  the  weak,  the  sluggish,  the  hopelessly  dull, 
fall  out,  or  are  discovered ;  and,  as  a  rule,  the  men  and  women  who 
show  parts  and  power  and  good  sense  and  power  of  influence  in  a 
college  course,  are  the  men  and  women  upon  whom  responsibilities 
in  after  life  may  safely  be  devolved,  are  the  men  and  women  who 
give  the  best  promise  of  usefulness  and  success.  And  the  seminary 
course  carries  this  sifting  course  still  further.  Thus  the  intellect- 
ual preparation  of  these  courses  in  a  two-fold  way  fits  for  missionary 
service.  The  training  in  language,  literature,  mathematics,  science, 
and  philosophy  and  history,  yields  the  alert,  versatile,  furnished  mind 
which  the  missionary  service  so  peculiarly  requires.  It  also  reveals 
characteristics,  and  saves  Mission  Boards  and  young  people  them- 
selves from  serious  mistakes. 

God  has  a  just  claim  to  the  best  service  we  can  render.  And  for 
the  missionary  service  He  is  entitled  to  select  the  most  capable  and 
promising,  and  to  have  them  as  thoroughly  trained  as  the  best  schools 
of  their  times  can  train  them.  The  wisest,  keenest,  most  powerful 
minds  are  not  too  good  for  this  service.  God  demanded  of  the  Israel- 
ites lambs  mthout  blemish,  the  best  in  every  flock.  And  the  demand 
is  essentially  the  same  in  every  field.  It  is  a  fond  delusion  that  any 
man  will  do  for  Africa,  while  our  best  must  go  to  India  and  China ; 
that  a  weak  man  may  answer  for  the  Pacific  Islands,  but  only  first-class 
men  can  do  anything  in  Japan  or  Turkey.  The  truth  is,  first-class 
men  alone  do  first-class  work  in  Africa  or  Japan ;  that  second-rate 
men  do  second-rate  work  in  Polynesia  as  certainly  as  in  India  or 
China.  In  every  place  alike  the  Gospel  is  to  be  preached,  men's 
hearts  and  consciences  won,  the  Church  is  to  be  built,  education  is  to 


2G  The  World's  Conquest. 

be  organized,  the  Bible  is  to  be  given  to  the  people  in  their  own  tongue, 
and  the  life  of  a  nation  made  instinct  with  the  truth  and  spirit  of  Jesus 
Christ.  There  is  no  greater  work  than  this  for  man  to  do;  the  age 
will  bring  none  more  majestic.  And  God  has  a  right  to  claim  that  to 
this  high  endeavor  our  homes  shall  give  up  their  choicest,  our  churches 
consecrate  their  best,  and  our  schools  yield  their  richest  treasures.  And 
may  He  accept  the  offering  we  bring,  and  make  it  serve  abundantly 
in  His  Kingdom  and  glory. 

The  Rev.  H.  P.  Beach,  of  the  School  for  Christian  Workers,  Spring- 
field, Massachusetts,  presented  the  topic  :  — 

The  Practical  Preparation  or  the  Volunteer. 

I  am  veiy  sorry  that  I  must  invite  Pegasus  to  come  down  and  walk 
on  the  earth  for  just  a  few  minutes,  but  I  am  not  responsible  for  my 
topic,  and  on  second  thought  I  am  not  very  sure  either  that  it  is  a 
coming  down  ;  for  the  very  same  lips  from  which  came  these  words, 
"  Go  ye  and  make  disciples  of  all  nations,"  also  said,  "  As  Thou  hast 
sent  me  into  the  world,  even  so  have  I  also  sent  them  into  the  world." 
The  Gospel  shows  us  Jesus  Christ  among  men  ;  it  pictures  Him  not 
only  as  the  Son  of  God,  but  also  as  the  carpenter's  son.  We  see  Him 
healing  diseases  and  feeding  the  hungry  multitudes.  We  see  Him  wash- 
ing the  disciples'  feet,  and  telling  them  how  to  preach.  We  see  Him 
as  commander  of  a  water-logged  craft,  and  also  as  founder  of  a  church. 
We  see  Him  as  teacher,  as  preacher,  as  servant,  as  Saviour.  If  we 
are  to  be  sent  into  this  world  field  as  Jesus  Christ  was  sent,  let  us  be 
like  Him.  Let  our  aim  be  simply  to  reach  out  everywhere  and  touch 
suffering  humanity  at  as  many  points  as  possible.  That  is  what  Jesus 
Christ  did  in  His  day. 

"  But  how  am  I  to  prepare  for  this  multiform  work  ?  "  you  ask. 
That  is  a  difficult  question,  and  I  shall  not  attempt  to  answer  it  this 
morning,  only  to  make  a  beginning  at  it.  I  suppose  I  might  answer  in 
a  word  by  saying,  "  Young  men  and  women,  go  through  the  world  and 
keep  your  eyes  open.  Notice  every  possible  thing  which  makes 
Christian  civilization  and  Chi-istianity  what  it  is  to  you,  because  you 
are  to  carry  that  civilization  and  that  Christian  spirit  into  the  world." 

1.  But  to  be  more  specific,  I  would  call  your  attention  first  to  the 
importance  of  knowing  your  own  Board.  You  will  love  that  Board 
when  you  get  ten  thousand  miles  away  from  it,  and  will  wish  you  had 
cultivated  its  acquaintance  a  little  more  while  in  America.  Do  you 
know  the  policy  of  the  Board  to  which  you  have  committed  yourself  ? 
Are  you  acquainted  with  its  officers  ?  That  acquaintance  will  be  of 
the  utmost  importance  to  you,  you  will  find,  when  you  get  too  far 
away  to  make  it. 


The  World's  Conquest.  27 

There  are  two  officers  especially  whom  I  think  you  can  practically 
help  here  before  yon  go  out.  One  of  those  men  is  the  Treasurer  of 
your  Board.  If  you  talk  with  him  you  will  find  that  mission  money  is 
very  carefully  expended  and  religiously  accounted  for.  Can  j'ou  keep 
accounts  ?  If  not,  I  would  advise  you  to  learn  how  before  you  launch 
out  upon  that  great  sea  of  foreign  accounts  and  exchanges  and  different 
kinds  of  silver,  where  you  are  to  be  cheated  day  by  day  by  every  man. 
Drop  into  the  office  of  your  Editorial  Secretary,  and  you  will  find  that 
it  is  a  very  valuable  thing  to  be  able  to  illustrate  the  foreign  field.  The 
so-called  camera  fiend  is  not  supposed  to  be  a  friend  of  missions  ;  but 
if  you  will  learn  how  to  use  a  camera,  you  will  find  it  of  service  to 
your  Board. 

2.  A  second  line  of  preparation  has  to  do  with  your  field.  It  is 
obvious  that  in  order  to  choose  your  field  rightly  and  to  prepare  for  it 
in  the  way  of  outfit,  you  need  to  know  something  about  its  topography, 
its  climate,  its  prevailing  diseases.  In  case  you  are  one  of  the  early 
missionaries  in  a  country,  you  will  need  to  be  a  follower  of  the  Apostle 
Paul,  and  know  where  your  strategic  points  are.  But  when  you  get 
in  a  heathen  land  there  are  few  means  of  communication  between 
different  parts  of  the  country  ;  so  that  you  can  learn  a  great  deal  more 
in  your  college  libraries  about  the  strategic  points  to  be  occupied  than 
you  can  out  on  the  field. 

I  would  advise  you  to  learn  a  great  deal  about  its  people.  Learn 
how  they  think,  what  their  religious  views  are,  what  forms  of  govern- 
ment and  civilization  you  are  going  to  live  in  the  midst  of.  So  also  I 
would  suggest  to  you  to  learn  very  definitely  just  what  portion  of  your 
country  your  Board  occupies.  Learn  what  other  portions  are  already 
occupied  by  other  boards ;  and  then,  if  you  are  fortunate  enough  to  go 
to  a  land  where  missionary  conferences  have  been  held,  I  would  advise 
you  to  get  those  conference  reports.  If  there  are  none,  get  the  period- 
icals published  by  missionary  boards  in  your  field,  and  study  them  ; 
learn  the  methods  employed  and  the  comparative  results,  and  you  will 
find  them  of  great  assistance  to  you  when  you  get  out  there. 

I  want  to  emphasize,  as  it  has  been  emphasized  at  Northfield  and 
elsewhere,  the  value  of  biographies.  The  periodicals  do  not  give 
accounts  of  the  failures  of  missionaries,  but  biographies,  if  true,  will 
show  you  where  all  sorts  of  men  have  blundered.  Now,  missionary 
failures  are  the  stepping  stone  to  missionary  success.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary, however,  for  you  to  lay  that  foundation  when  others  ha^e  done 
it  for  you.     You  would  better  have  success  from  the  start,  if  you  can. 

3.  .  A  thii'd  line  of  preparation  which  I  would  suggest  has  to  do 
with  the  material  needs  of  yourself  and  your  fellow  missionaries.  You 
want  to  make  some  preparation  for  food  and  raiment  and  habitation, 
for  disease  and  death  ;  for  man  is  vei'y  human,  and  you  will    have    all 


28  TiiK  World's  Conquest. 

kinds  of  experiences  to  meet,  and  might  as  well  Le  ready  for  them.  I 
suppose  that  Dr.  Nevius  in  China,  and  the  Catholic  missionaries 
throughout  the  world,  have  not  ordy  benefited  themselves,  but  the 
countries  to  which  they  went,  simply  because  they  believed  in  carrying 
something  along  to  eat.  You  can  do  something  for  humanity,  you  can 
gain  the  friendship  of  many  men  who  might  be  opposed  to  you,  by  a 
simple  knowledge  of  gardening. 

Many  a  man  who  has  been  called  upon  to  go  abroad  to  be  the  dis- 
penser of  the  Water  of  Life,  has  had  his  life  cut  short  simply  because  he 
partook  of  the  waters  of  unsanitary  wells.  I  would  commend  to  you 
that  apostle  to  the  New  Hebrides,  Dr.  Paton.  See  what  you  can  do 
with  a  well.  Remember,  too,  that  in  heathen  cities  there  is  generally 
no  satisfactory  water  supply,  and  that  life  may  depend  upon  your 
knowledge  of  how  to  make  a  simj^le  filter  or  a  condenser.  It  is  some- 
thing worth  looking  into  now. 

Romulus  and  Remus  may  be  mythical,  but  I  know  that  there  is  one 
man  in  Oberlin  who  would  never  have  lived,  probably,  to  get  there  if 
his  father  hadn't  learned  how  to  milk.  Now,  a  heathen  cow  is  a  prob- 
lem for  any  man  ;  but  there  was  not  even  a  cow  in  this  case  ;  that  man 
owed  his  life  to  a  recalcitrant  mother  donkey. 

I  would  suggest  to  j^ou  in  this  connection  also  that  clothing  has  to 
be  provided.  Just  think  of  that  cultivated  man",  the  bishop  of  New 
Zealand,  sitting  on  the  deck  of  that  vessel  of  his,  making  garments  for 
women  who  wished  to  leave  the  ways  of  heathenism  !  You  will  find 
that  nakedness  is  one  of  the  evils  you  must  fight  against.  You  young 
women  know  how  to  cut  and  make  your  own  dresses ;  but  you  j^oung 
men,  can  you  cobble  a  pair  of  shoes  ?  I  remember  that  I  practically 
was  obliged  to  retire  for  about  a  week  while  my  only  pair  of  shoes 
were  carried  at  a  slow  walk  eighty-three  miles  and  brought  back. 
Since  that  time  I  have  had  the  greatest  respect  for  the  Church  Mission- 
ary Society  College  which  has  a  class  in  cobbling. 

You  are  to  Uve  in  a  house.  Do  you  know  anything  about  building 
one  ?  Can  you  plane  a  board  or  do  anything  in  the  line  of  mason's 
work  ?  If  not,  you  can  watch  masons  and  carpenters,  and  can  at  least 
direct  that  line  of  effort  in  your  new  home.  You  will  find  that  furni- 
ture is  a  desirable  thing,  and  that  freights  are  enormously  expensive. 
If  you  will  spend  some  Saturday  afternoon  in  a  furniture  maker's 
factory  you  will  learn  enough  aboiat  the  principles  of  cabinet  making 
and  upholstering  so  that  at  a  greatly  reduced  expense  you  can  have 
furniture  made  by  native  workmen. 

But  life  is  more  than  any  of  the  things  I  have  spoken  of,  and  I 
exhort  you,  men  and  women  who  are  expecting  to  go  abroad,  not 
merely  to  feel  your  way  there  with  just  strength  enough  to  get  off  the 
steamer  ;  but  go  there  with  the  fullness    of    strength.     Patronize    the 


The  World's  Conquest.  29 

gymnasium  ;  get  as  strong  as  exercise  can  make  you.  Kemember  that 
you  are  temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  that  you  can  make  your  temple 
a  very  efficient  instrument.  Some  women,  going  to  countries  like 
Persia  for  instance,  have  almost  wrecked  their  life  simply  because  they 
didn't  know  how  to  ride  horseback.  A  tooth  may  make  you  useless 
for  several  days,  because  you  didn't  learn  how  to  extract  teeth  or  bring 
with  you  a  pair  of  forceps.  When  common  diseases  arise  in  your 
family  or  among  your  native  friends,  and  there  is  no  physician  within 
a  hundred  miles,  perhaps  you  will  wish  that  you  had  learned  a  little 
about  medicine.  Very  frequently  a  life  dear  to  you  and  important  to 
missionar}^  work  hangs  in  the  balance,  and  a  little  knowledge  of  nursing 
would  carry  that  life  tlirough. 

One  other  point  in  this  line,  —  it  is  an  important  one :  death  is  the 
means  by  which  a  great  many  missionaries  glorify  God.  It  is  a  sad 
hour  for  you  when  you  close  their  eyes  in  death,  but  it  is  a  sadder 
thing  still  if  you  don't  know  how  to  perform  the  last  rites  for  them.  I 
would  advise  you  to  ask  a  fcAV  questions  of  an  undertaker;  it  will  help 
you  wonderfully  in  that  sad  hour. 

4.  A  fourth  line  of  preparation  :  practical  educational  preparation 
I  will  call  it.  A  great  many  lines  of  work  have  to  be  done  for  mission 
purposes  solely,  and  perhaps  the  commonest  are  book-binding  and 
printing.  Nearly  every  mission  has  a  press.  Are  you  going  to  know 
enough  about  the  work  so  that  when  the  manager  who  has  technical 
training  is  called  to  America  you  will  be  able  to  take  his  place  ?  Sup- 
pose you  are  five  hundred  miles  from  a  book-bindery,  can  you  bind  a 
book?  You  can  learn  enough  about  it  in  an  afternoon  to  bind  your 
own  books  and  periodicals ;  get  the  practice  now. 

But  the  industrial  education  is  the  special  thing  which  I  wish  to 
speak  of  under  this  head.  It  is  a  practical  necessity  in  a  great  many 
countries  where  the  arts  of  civilized  lands  are  unknown,  or  where  com- 
petition is  so  great  that  the  men  or  women  becoming  Christians  are 
practically  thrown  upon  the  church  for  support.  If  you  will  read  the 
story  of  Lovedale  in  South  Africa,  or  of  Mangolore  in  India,  or  of 
Norfolk  Island,  you  will  see  what  a  wide  field  this  opens  up  before 
you.  If  your  Board,  in  the  field  to  which  you  are  going,  happens  to 
have  industrial  schools,  learn  carefully  all  you  can  here  about  these 
lines  of  work  which  are  favored  by  your  Board. 

Dr.  Smith  has  spoken  of  normal  training.  I  wish  you  would  look 
up  that  passage  in  Mackay  and  see  what  he  says  about  normal  training 
as  the  key  to  the  solution  of  many  problems  in  Africa.  Kindergarten 
work  I  want  to  speak  of.  You  young  women,  many  of  you,  will  go 
into  thousands  of  heathen  homes ;  you  will  come  into  contact  with 
multitudes  of  young  lives.  Have  you  ever  been  in  a  kindergarten  and 
asked  yourself,  Avould  not  this  same  work  be  of  even  greater  value  on 


30  The  World's  Coxquest. 

the  foreign  field  ?  I  think  that  over  the  door  of  every  kindergarten  of 
heathenism  there  should  be  the  same  inscription  that  there  is  over  a 
paradise  of  children  in  Kobe,  Japan,  "  Glory  Kindergarten."  Not  only 
is  the  life  of  the  children  made  glorious,  but  the  great  God  is  made 
glorious  in  their  thoughts. 

Music :  You  will  have  to  teach  music  v^^hether  you  sing  or  not. 
You  might  just  as  well  learn  to  play  an  instrument  and  sing  in  some 
sort  of  fashion  now.  I  would  advise  you  to  take  steps  immediately  to 
do  that.  Music  suggests  time,  time  suggests  watches.  Heathen 
countries  of  course  know  nothing  about  eternity,  consequently  they 
care  little  about  time,  and  it  is  a  great  part  of  the  missionary's  work  to 
make  them  feel  its  value.  I  spent  a  solid  day  once  in  mending  the 
main  sj^i'i^g  of  my  watch.  Now,  if  I  had  known  what  you  may  know, 
that  it  is  a  valuable  thing  to  learn  how  to  put  in  a  watch  spring,  and  if 
1  had  carried  one  along  with  me,  I  would  have  saved  a  day  of  mission- 
ary time. 

5.  Another  line  of  preparation  that  I  would  suggest  has  to  do  with 
evangelistic  work.  A  magic  lantern  is  an  instrument  of  the  Lord  if 
you  know  how  to  use  it.  Another  suggestion  in  this  same  line  is  the 
value  of  street  preaching.  Now,  it  is  not  an  easy  thing  when  you  only 
half  know  a  language  or  are  liable  to  be  interrupted,  as  St.  Stephen 
was,  to  learn  how  to  do  street  preaching.  You  would  better  do  it 
right  here  in  this  country;  you  can  prepare  yourself  for  that  kind 
of  work  here.  Some  of  you  went  down  from  Northfield  last  year  to 
New  York,  and  found  it  a  very  valuable  piece  of  preparation  to  go  to 
a  mission  hall  and  present  the  plain  truth  of  the  Gospel  in  a  clear 
way.  You  might  just  as  well  do  it  this  summer  as  to  wait  two  or 
three  years  longer. 

6.  A  sixth  line  of  preparation  has  to  do  with  organization.  You 
are  to  be,  as  Dr.  Smith  has  said,  the  leaders  of  a  new  church.  You  can 
use  the  training  you  have  in  your  societies  here  to  prepare  you  for  the 
work  of  organization.  There  is  a  young  people's  society  which  ought 
to  be  established  in  your  church ;  it  is  a  hard  piece  of  work.  Take  it 
up  and  follow  up  that  line  until  you  become  thoroughly  familiar  Avith 
it.  I  suppose  that  home  missionary  work  during  a  summer  vacation 
would  give  you  an  all-round  preparation  which  perhaps  would  be  of 
greater  value  than  anything  else. 

7.  A  seventh  kind  of  preparation  which  I  wish  to  suggest  has  to 
do  with  shepherding  the  mission  flock.  It  is  not  a  flock  which  is  easily 
shepherded  ;  much  will  have  to  be  provided  for.  The  Sunday-school  is 
the  best  agency  so  far  discovered  to  do  that  work.  But  do  you  know 
the  best  methods  of  conducting  a  Sunday-school  ?  All  your  church, 
remembei",  will  be  in  the  Bible  school. 


The  World's  Conquest.  81 

The  work  which  a  great  many  of  you  might  profitably  do,  tliat  of 
house  to  house  visitation,  is  of  great  vahie  abroad.  I  can't  tell  you 
how  much  that  will  help  you  in  the  work  of  shepherding  the  strange 
flock  that  is  to  be  committed  to  you. 

8.  The  last  point  that  I  wish  to  speak  of  is  this  —  preparation  for 
personal  work.  The  time  has  passed  when  a  man  will  simply  go  out 
and  harangue  a  great  crowd  of  heathen.  That  has  its  place  of  course, 
but  missionaries  have  found  out,  what  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  discovered  years  ago  here  in  America  and  England,  that 
the  most  effective  form  of  effort  is  hand  to  hand  work.  Have  j'ou 
ever  thought  of  debate  as  a  means  of  preparation  for  that!  If  you 
have  not,  and  you  have  much  to  do  with  Mohammedans,  or  the  Brah- 
min pundits,  or  the  Ontologists  in  Japan,  you  will  say,  "  O,  that  I  had 
been  taiight  to  think  on  my  feet !  " 

Another  art  to  be  acquired  is  that  of  making  friends.  You  must 
get  hold  of  men  before  you  influence  them.  Heathen  men  and  women 
are  hard  people  to  get  hold  of.  It  is  easy  to  make  friends  with  persons 
who  are  congenial  to  you,  but  have  you  the  power  to  go  to  a  man  or 
woman  differing  from  you  in  culture  or  nationality  or  religious  views 
and  make  that  person  love  you  ?  Can  you  pour  the  great  love  of  your 
heart  out  upon  persons  indiscriminately  ?  If  you  have  not  that  power, 
learn  something  about  it.  And  I  would  suggest  that  you  learn  how  to 
do  this  in  the  slums  of  our  great  cities,  for  there  are  your  foreigners, 
your  men  of  different  creeds. 

Personal  work  with  your  own  fellow  students  is  a  most  valuable 
preparation  for  missionary  work.  Oh,  fellow  students,  if  I  could  only 
live  over  again  my  four  years  in  Yale  College,  I  tell  you,  under 
God,  more  men  would  be  brought  to  Jesus  Christ  than  were  brought  to 
Him  by  me.  I  did  not  realize  the  value  of  personal  work  then  as  a 
preparation  for  future  service.  You  are  not  sure  that  you  will  ever 
touch  foreign  shores ;  God's  plan  for  you  may  be  very  different.  But 
you  have  a  mission  field  wherever  you  are.  Just  say,  "  O  God,  I  want 
to  do  Thy  work  among  the  perishing  heathen ;  but  help  me  to  do  this 
work  here  and  now.  I  will  take  any  success  in  it  as  an  indication  that 
Thou  wishest  me  to  do  a  wider  work." 

Fellow  students,  I  have  not  begun  to  mention  the  points  I  might 
mention.  A  great  many  of  these  things  you  will  never  be  called  upon 
to  do.  There  are  a  multitude  of  things  not  mentioned  that  you  would 
give  a  great  deal  to  know  how  to  do  when  the  time  comes.  My  only 
plea  then  is  this  :  you  must  touch  humanity  at  a  multitude  of  points ; 
prepare  to  do  so  now,  and  don't  suppose  that  it  necessitates  a  lowering 
of  your  consecration.  You  remember  that  the  usual  Hebrew  word  for 
consecration  means  "to  fill  the  hands."  For  this  great  work  of  the 
Master  in  the  world-wide  field  I  urge  you  to  fill  your  hands  as  well  as 


32  The  World's  Conquest. 

your  heads  and   hearts.     And  may  the  great  God  bless  you  in  the 
work ! 

The  Chairman :  — 

As  I  announce  the  name  of  Rev.  J.  Hudson  Taylor,  the  Founder 
and  Director  of  the  China  Inland  Mission,  who  has  come  to  us  all  the 
way  from  England  especially  to  attend  this  Convention,  in  answer  we 
believe,  if  we  believe  anything,  to  the  prayers  of  many  of  those  who 
have  had  at  heart  the  deepest  spiritual  interest  of  the  Convention  —  as 
I  announce  his  name,  I  cannot  express  the  gratitude  that  I  have  to 
God,  and  not  only  that  I  have  but  that  you  have,  that  He  has  seen  fit  to 
make  possible  this  visit. 

The  Spiritual  Preparation  of  the  Volunteer. 

Dr.  Taylor  said  :  — 

As  I  look  all  around  me,  upon  this  sea  of  faces,  my  heart  would 
sink  within  me  if  I  thought  that  we  were  dependent  for  blessing  upon 
any  or  all  human  agency.  But,  oh,  when  one  looks  up  and  recognizes 
in  the  great  Father,  the  One  from  whom  all  blessings  come,  the  One 
who  opens  His  mighty  hand  and  satisfies  the  desire  of  every  living 
thing,  I  feel,  beloved  friends,  that  you  and  I  have  got  to  do  with  One 
who  can  fill  to  overflowing  every  heart  in  this  large  church.  I  have 
known  a  great  deal  about  pumping.  It  is  pretty  hard  work,  especially 
when  the  reservoir  is  empty.  You  may  work  like  any  Trojan  and  not 
get  anything,  because  there  is  nothing  to  get ;  but  overflowing  is 
so  different!  And  there  is  no  real  equipment  complete  until  our 
hearts  are  full  to  overflowing  with  the  love  of  Christ  that  passes 
knowledge  —  until  we  are  filled  with  all  the  fullness  of  God. 

Now,  do  not  misunderstand  me.  I  have  not  a  word  to  say  against 
the  fullest  preparation  that  God  gives  us  to  make  for  His  service.  Do 
not  depreciate  the  value  of  little  things.  I  think  every  year  of  my  life 
I  get  to  think  more  about  little  things.  I  was  much  helped  when  quite 
a  lad  by  reading  of  a  Swiss  pastor  who  was  taking  great  pains  in 
writing  a  letter.  When  a  friend  said,  "  I  would  not  take  pains  with 
that  letter  if  I  were  you ;  so-and-so  is  so  illiterate  that  he  won't  know 
the  difference,"  he  replied,  "  But  the  Lord  Jesus  is  looking  over  my 
shoulder,  and  I  am  making  every  letter  for  His  eye :  it  is  with  Him 
that  I  have  to  do."  I  am  quite  certain  that  that  little  incident  has  many 
a  time  led  me  to  try  to  glorify  God  in  the  address  of  a  postal  card  or 
an  envelope.  I  don't  think  a  Christian  man  ought  to  tempt  a  postal 
agent  to  think  bad  thoughts  or  speak  bad  words.  I  have  spent  many 
hours  of  my  life  endeavoring  in  vain  to  ascertain  the  meaning  of  the 
wi'iter  who  sent  me  an  ambiguous  letter.     I  do  think,  dear  friends,  that 


The  Wukld's  Conquest.  33 

if  we  are  to  be  perfect  as  our  Father  which  is  in  Heaven  is  perfect,  we 
shall  not  think  lightly  of  what  are  often  called  little  things.  Ought 
we  not,  in  the  spirit  of  that  text,  to  do  our  best  in  everything  that  we 
do,  and  not  to  do  anything  that  is  not  worth  doing  our  best  in  ?  Noth- 
ing but  the  power  of  the  Hol}^  Ghost  will  enable  us  to  do  little  things 
with  pains  and  with  patience,  gladly  and  joyfully. 

It  is  one  of  the  great  promises  given  to  the  pure  in  heart,  "  They 
shall  see  God."  And  oh,  if  any  one  needs  to  see  God,  surely  it  is  the 
missionary.  He  will  see  evil,  j^lenty  of  it  everywhere,  and  if  he  can- 
not see  God,  he  will  be  deteriorated  by  the  influences  around  him,  and 
he  may  lose  his  power  to  save  others. 

Now,  as  to  spiritual  preparation,  I  scarcely  know  where  to  begin. 
Of  all  preparation  the  most  important  is  to  know  God.  I  think  there 
is  no  question  about  this.  And  to  know  God  you  must  know  His 
Word.  I  would  urge  uj^on  all  of  you  to  make  a  devotional  study  of 
the  Word  of  God  the  first  thing  in  your  lives,  the  first  thing  absolutely. 
God  has  given  to  you  and  to  me  a  plan  by  which  we  may  infallibly 
succeed  in  all  that  we  put  our  hands  to.  "  Whatsoever  he  doeth  shall 
prosper."  Now,  I  need  not  tell  you,  my  dear  friends,  that  I  am  a  be- 
liever in  the  verbal  inspiration  of  the  Word  of  God ;  and  I  believe  it 
on  the  same  ground  upon  which  I  believe  many  other  things.  For 
instance,  I  have  been  two  or  three  times  in  the  States.  I  have  had  a 
few  of  your  notes  pass  through  my  hands.  I  have  never  yet  been  of- 
fered five  cents  less  than  the  value  of  that  note  for  it,  and  I  have  got 
to  imagine  that  they  really  are  what  they  represent,  and  that  a  bill  for 
$20.00  T  should  be  a  fool  for  parting  with  for  819.50.  I  wish  I  had 
always  dealt  with  the  promises  of  God  on  those  grounds.  I  have  never 
been  disappointed  when  I  have  so  dealt  with  God's  promises.  And 
after  a  life  spent  in  missionary  service, —  it  is  forty  years  ago  to-day 
since  I  landed  in  China  the  1st  of  March, —  a  life  that  has  afforded  me 
more  opportunities  than  many  lives  of  putting  practically  to  the  test 
both  the  directions  of  God's  Word  and  resting  upon  the  promises  of 
God's  Word,  let  me  tell  you  I  cannot  look  back  on  one  instance  of  dis- 
appointment where  in  a  right  spirit  I  have  followed  the  direction  of 
God's  Word,  or  one  instance  of  disappointment  where  I  have  put  my 
trust  on  the  simple  promise  of  God.  I  believe  we  want  to  get  to  look 
upon  this  Book  as  our  guide  and  director,  to  come  to  it  in  the  same 
spirit  that  I  would  take  up  one  of  your  railway  time-tables.  When  the 
schedule  states  the  train  will  leave  at  a  certain  hour,  I  expect  it  to  leave. 
Now,  look  upon  your  Bibles  just  as  you  look  upon  your  railroad  guide  : 
expect  to  find  the  information  you  need  and  expect  that  that  informa- 
tion will  be  reliable,  and  you  will  not  be  disappointed.  And  I  just 
mention  this  by  the  way.  Well,  then,  with  that  belief,  having  close 
attention  drawn  to  that  first  Psalm,  we  find  there  a  very  simple  guide 


34  The  World's  Conquest. 

to  prosperity  in  Christian  work.  That  was  a  matter  of  very  mnch 
moment  to  me,  for  at  that  time  I  was  just  forming  the  China  Inland 
Mission.  I  wanted  it  to  jjrosper,  and  I  said,  "  If  these  directions  are 
sufficient,  by  God's  help  the  mission  shall  be  prospered." 

Now,  there  has  been  much  failure  on  my  part  and  on  the  part  of 
those  who  have  worked  with  me,  but  there  has  been  no  failure  on  the 
Lord's  part,  none  at  all.  That  little  work  began  in  a  very  small  and 
tiny  way,  and  the  Lord  picked  the  least  man  perhaps  physically  and  in- 
tellectually and  in  every  other  way  that  He  could  lay  His  hand  on  when 
He  called  me  for  that  purpose.  But  the  great  and  mighty  God  has  been 
working,  and,  thank  God,  there  are  now  in  connection  with  the  mis- 
sionaries and  their  associates  over  six  hundred  men  and  women  and 
about  three  hundred  native  laborers  working  in  connection  with  us, 
and  over  four  thousand  communicants,  and  many  candidates  for  bap- 
tism in  over  a  hundred  churches  in  inland  provinces.  It  would  take 
you  a  month  perhaps  to  go  over  to  Shanghai  by  either  of  your  American 
routes.  But  when  you  got  to  Shanghai,  it  would  take  you  a  great  many 
months  indeed  to  get  to  our  more  distant  stations.  Now,  at  these 
great  distances  in  the  far  interior  of  China,  God  has  been  blessing  and 
prospering  His  great  work.  And  why?  Because  it  is  His  work. 
And  there  let  me  just  throw  in  a  remark.  You  must  bear  the  childish 
way  in  which  I  am  speaking  to  you  —  I  do  not  want  to  lose  the 
opportunity  of  just  bringing  the  thought  that  God's  work  is  God's 
work ;  it  is  not  men  working  for  God,  but  it  is  God  working  through 
men.  And  oh,  my  dear  friends,  the  preparation  of  preparations  is  to  be 
such  a  man  as  God  can  work  through.  There  is  no  fear  that  He  Avill 
not  work  through  one  who  is  lit  to  be  worked  through.  If  we  are  only 
in  that  state  of  soul  in  which  the  Lord  can  use  us.  He  is  delighted  to  use 
His  people.  Oh,  He  loves  to  use  them !  Now,  if  we  believe  that  God's 
work  is  God  working,  then  there  is  infallible  success  before  us.  That 
object  which  God  has  to  attain  will  be  attained  by  those  who  are  in  His 
hands,  who  are  free  in  His  hands  to  be  dealt  with  as  He  sees  fit.  Oh, 
let  us  trust  in  God  to  w:oi"k. 

Will  you  kindly  read  over  the  first  Psalm,  and  especially  the  first 
three  verses  of  it,  and  you  will  see  the  Une  of  things  to  be  avoided,  the 
line  of  things  to  be  taken ;  and  the  j^ositive  direction  is  simply  this : 
"  Delight,  delight,  delight  in  the  law  of  the  Lord,  meditating  on  it  day 
and  night  I  "  Only  get  your  delight  in  it  and  there  is  no  fear  you  won't 
meditate  about  it.  We  all  meditate  on  the  things  that  are  our  delight. 
I  remember  some  years  ago,  on  coming  home  from  China,  I  soon 
found  out  what  was  the  special  delight  of  my  children  at  that  time. 
They  were  talking  of  their  bicycles,  their  bicycle  tournaments,  the 
cups  they  had  won  and  expected  to  win,  and  that  sort  of  thing.  It 
was  a  comparatively  new  enjoyment  to  them.     I  hadn't  to  ask  them 


The  Wokld's  Conquest.  35 

where  their  delight  was  ;  I  found  it  out  easily  enough.  And  you  talk 
with  any  man,  and  you  know  a  man  of  business  will  talk  shop,  a  man 
of  science  will  talk  science ;  you  will  find  out  where  a  man's  delight  is. 
Now,  by  God's  grace,  let  us  have  our  delight  in  this  Book,  and  our 
success  is  secured  ;  not  to  be  secured,  but  is  secured,  by  the  infallible 
Word  of  God ;  for  God,  who  cannot  lie,  says,  "  Whatsoever  he  doeth 
shall  prosper." 

And  that  is  another  all-round  thing  —  "  WlMtsoever  he  doeth  shall 
prosper."  The  recreation,  the  family  life,  as  well  as  the  missionary 
life,  will  all  be  made  a  success  if  we  are  carrying  out  the  simple  direc- 
tions given  in  the  first  two  verses  of  the  Psalm. 

And  Avliy  is  delight  in  God's  Word  so  important  ?  Because  through 
it  we  get  to  know  God.  And  may  I  draw  a  distinction  here  which  is 
very  important  ?  You  may  know  a  great  deal  about  the  Word  of  God 
and  not  hioio  the  Word  at  all.  The  Jews  knew  an  immense  amount 
about  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures.  I  suppose  the  learned  Rabbis 
knew  them  almost  by  heart,  but  they  did  not  fulfill  them :  they  did 
fulfill  them  rather,  unwittingly,  by  crucifying  the  Lord  of  glor3^  It 
is  one  thing  to  know  a  great  deal  about  the  Bible,  and  another  thing 
to  know  the  Bible.  The  men  that  know  the  Bible  are  never  sceptical. 
If  you  take  an  object  and  put  it  under  the  microscope,  you  will  have  no 
doubt  about  it  being  man's  work  or  God's  work.  The  finest  cambric 
becomes  coarse  sackcloth  under  the  microscope ;  the  finest  needle  is 
converted  into  a  ragged  poker  when  seen  under  the  magnifjdng  glass. 
But  suppose  you  take  the  sting  of  the  bee  and  a  tip  of  a  butterfly's 
wing,  and  put  them  under  the  microscope ;  observe  each  successively, 
noting  the  polished  outlines  and  filament-like  structure  of  the  one,  and 
the  exquisite  coloring  and  delicate  texture  of  the  other.  You  ^\t.11 
soon  know  which  two  are  man's  work,  and  which  two  are  God's 
work.  And  when  God's  Holy  Spirit  turns  His  flash-light  upon 
the  Word  of  God,  and  you  see  it  in  that  light,  and  when  under  the 
magnifying  power  which  the  Spirit  gives  you  read  that  Word,  you 
might  just  as  well  tell  me  that  that  butterfly  is  man's  work  as  that  this 
Book  is  man's  work.  My  dear  friends,  I  am  not  troubled  a  bit  by 
scepticism ;  I  know  that  this  is  God's  Word.  I  want  you  to  know 
your  Bibles.  It  is  a  big  book.  Those  of  you  who  are  accustomed 
to  read  it  through  systematically  are  very  well  aware  of  that.  I  have 
read  through  my  Bible  many  times  before  daylight.  In  my  very 
busy  life  I  haven't  been  able  to  get  a  quiet  time  and  a  quiet  mind 
for  devotional  reading  oftentimes  through  the  day.  In  my  jour- 
neys in  China  and  elsewhere  I  have  found  that  the  only  way  in  which 
I  could  be  quiet  sometimes  was  when  everybody  else  was  asleep. 
And,  rather  than  lose  the  opportunity  of  having  this  time  with  my 
Bible  and  my  God,  I    have  systematically  got  up  at  three  or  four  in 


36  The  World's  Conquest, 

the  morning,  and  had  an  hour  or  an  hour  and  a  half  to  devote  to 
Bible  reading  and  prayer,  and  then  laid  down  for  a  little  additional  rest 
before  breakfast  time.  I  have  found  unspeakable  blessing  and  profit 
in  these  quiet  morning  hours.  I  don't  say  this  is  necessary  for  all ; 
many  could  not  do  it,  and  many  do  not  need  to.  But  if  the  other 
work  of  the  day  seems  to  prevent,  you  can  have  the  time  before  for 
your  Bible  and  your  God.  Don't  play  through  your  concert  and  tune 
your  instrument  at  the  end,  but  tune  your  instrument  before  the  con- 
cert begins,  if  you  want  harmony.  This  is  only  a  means  to  an  end ; 
but  it  is  a  blessed  means  to  a  blessed  end,  that  of  knowing  God. 

Men  may  know  a  great  deal  about  God,  and  not  know  God.  The 
men  that  know  their  God  shall  be  strong  to  do  exploits ;  they  can't 
help  it.     When  there  is  life  and  power  in  a  man  it  will  come  out. 

I  like  the  expression  in  the  ninetieth  Psalm,  "  The  beauty  of  the 
Lord  our  God."  We  have  such  a  beautiful  God,  so  absolutely  perfect, 
so  delightfully  real,  so  very  near !  Oh,  it  is  well  to  take  time  to  think 
about  Him ;  it  is  well  to  take  time  to  get  to  know  Him.  And  you 
can't  be  holy  in  a  hurry ;  it  takes  time  to  be  holy.  It  takes  time,  and 
needs  a  reverent  and  a  fruitful  communion  with  Him.  But  He  is  so 
delightfully  real,  and  so  beautifully  true,  and  so  tender  and  so  strong. 
And  I  find  this,  that  the  more  simply  one  comes  to  Him,  and  the  more 
simply  one  trusts  Him,  the  more  delightful  He  seems  to  be.  There  is 
a  passage  that  my  heart  delights]  in  exceedingly^,  in  which  the  Lord 
Jesus  "rejoiced  in  Spirit."  I  never  think  of  it  without  rejoicing  in 
spirit  too.  "  I  thank  Thee,  O  Father,  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  that 
Thou  hast  hid  these  things  from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  hast  re- 
vealed them  unto  babes :  even  so.  Father ;  for  so  it  seemed  good  in 
Thy  sight."  It  is  well  to  be  one  of  the  babes  to  whom  God  reveals 
Himself  and  the  wonderful  things  written  in  His  love. 

A  few  years  ago  I  heard  a  sentiment  expressed  by  Professor  Char- 
teris,  of  Edinburgh.  About  seven  hundred  students  of  the  University 
were  gathered  together  at  the  close  of  the  session  for  a  united  com- 
munion service.  The  Professor,  who  was  leading  our  thoughts,  gave 
us  this  thought :  "  There  is  but  one  life  on  earth,"  he  said,  "  that  was 
a  life  of  steady  development  —  only  one  uninterrupted  development ; 
it  was  from  the  cradle  to  the  Cross.  All  true  Christian  life,  it  seems 
to  me,  is  like  the  life  of  Christ  lived  backwards.  True  Christian  life 
begins  at  the  Cross,  at  the  blood-shedding ;  the  development  of  Chris- 
tian life  is  toward  the  cradle,  until  the  child  of  God  can  rest  like  a 
babe  in  the  arms  of  Infinite  love."  I  commend  that  thought  to  you ; 
it  has  been  a  great  help  and  comfort  to  me.  It  is  only  the  little  ones 
that  grow,  you  know.  As  soon  as  we  become  too  big  we  cease  to 
grow.  And  it  is  the  little  ones  that  get  most  caressing ;  and  the  more 
simply  as  a  little  child  one  comes  to  the  great  and  glorious  Father,  the 


The  World's  Conquest.  37 

more  simply  one  just  tells  Him  one's  heart's  desires,  the  more  simply 
one  depends  upon  Ilim  if  circumstances  of  need  have  arisen,  the  more 
sweetly,  the  more  tenderly,  the  more  lovingly  does  He  manifest  Him- 
self. 

We  have  all  in  our  God  that  we  need  for  our  missionary  enter- 
prise ;  and  apart  from  Him  we  have  nothing  that  is  competent  and 
sufficient.  We  must  keep  in  touch  with  our  God.  You  have  seen 
frequently  the  experiment  in  which  a  number  of  persons  take  hold  of 
hands,  and  one  of  them  touches  a  leyden  jar,  and  the  stream  of  elec- 
tricity passes  through  the  whole ;  but  let  any  one  break  the  connection, 
and  he  can  shock  no  one.  You  have  seen  a  person  stand  upon  the  in- 
sulated stool  filled  with  electricity.  Let  any  one  come  near  him  and 
touch  any  part  of  his  body,  and  the  spark  will  fly ;  but  step  off  the 
stool  and  there  is  no  jjower.  We  want,  dear  friends,  to  be  separated 
unto  our  God.  We  want  to  be  in  touch  with  Him  continually,  and  to 
know  Him,  to  know  what  we  can  count  on. 

The  spiritual  preparation  is  to  be  knowledge  of  God,  the  Spirit  of 
God,  the  Word  of  God.  With  that,  everything  else  that  God  may  give 
us  or  enable  us  to  acquire  may  be  useful ;  without  it,  everything  else 
will  fail. 

I  am  quite  sure  from  personal  experience,  dear  friends,  that  you 
cannot  go  and  live  among  the  heathen  people  without  one  of  two  things 
taking  place.  You  will  either  be  growing  in  grace  and  in  the 
knowledge  and  in  the  love  of  God,  or  you  won't  be  standing  still,  you 
will  be  going  back.  There  is  an  immense  power  in  majorities,  and  no 
one  can  escape  that  power.  But  God  is  the  majority,  and  if  we  are  in 
touch  with  Him  it  does  not  matter  though  all  the  world  is  on  the  other 
side.  The  man  who  stands  alone  with  God  is  with  the  majority.  In 
all  3^our  preparation  and  through  it  all  see  to  this,  that  you  are  day  by 
day  grownng  in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  and  in  the  love  of  God  and 
of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  See  to  it  there  is  no  hindrance  to  blessing 
being  poured  into  your  own  hearts. 

Now,  through  your  student  course,  and  Avith  regard  to  your  future 
course,  see  that  day  by  day  you  begin  with  God,  and,  beginning  with 
God,  he  will  enable  you  to  go  through  the  day  with  the  sweet  knowledge 
of  God.  There  is  nothing  so  helpful.  I  am  natui-ally  very  nervous 
I  remember  very  well  when  I  went  in  for  my  final  examination  as  a 
medical  man  :  T  was  pretty  well  up  in  my  subjects,  for  I  had  done 
honest  work  ;  but  when  I  got  the  paper  and  read  over  the  questions 
my  mind  simply  began  to  swim  and  everything  became  black.  I  didn't 
know  where  to  begin  ;  I  didn't  feel  I  could  write  anything  on  any  of 
the  topics  before  me.  What  did  I  do  ?  I  just  went  to  God  in  prayer; 
and  after  a  few  minutes  of  prayer  my  mind  was  calm,  I  sat  down  and 
Avrote,  and,  thank  God,  my  examination  was  comfortably   and    safely 


38  .  The  World's  Conquest. 

passed.  There  is  nothing  helps  the  mind  to  be  more  clear,  nothing 
helps  in  anything  one  has  to  do,  more  than  communion  with  God. 
And  if  there  is  anything  that  God  does  not  help  one  to  do,  keep  clear 
of  that.  That  which  communion  with  God  will  not  help  is  not  a  help 
to  us  in  our  prej^aration  for  missionary  work. 

There  is  a  very  sweet  promise  of  God  I  want  to  leave  with  j'^ou  as 
I  sit  down.  A  full  equipment  is  to  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit. 
And  how  simply  it  is  to  be  attained  !  You  know  where  to  go.  That 
poor  Samaritan  woman  did  not  know  in  whose  presence  she  was.  The 
Master  said  to  her,  "  Tf  thou  knewest  the  gift  of  God,  and  who  it  is  that 
saith  to  thee.  Give  me  to  drink ;  thou  wouldst  have  asked  of  Him  and 
He  would  have  given  thee  living  water."  And  she  did  ask,  very  igno- 
rantly  indeed,  not  knowing  what  she  asked.  He  knew,  and  He  gave  her 
that  which  she  so  ignorantly  asked.  He  said  to  her,  before  He  had 
fully  blest  her,  a  word  that  is  recorded  for  your  instruction  and  mine, 
"  Whosoever  drinketh  of  this  water  shall  thirst  again."  Oh,  how  true 
it  is  ;  all  the  waters  of  earth,  how  thirsty  they  leave  us  or  how  soon  we 
become  thirsty  again  !  "  But,"  continued  our  Master,  there  is  some- 
thing better,  "  whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him 
shall  never  thirst " —  shall  never  thirst !  It  may  have  been  the  end  of 
1868  or  the  beginning  of  1869  when  I  discovered  that  "shall"  means 
"shall,"  and  that  "never"  means  "never,"  and  that  "thirst"  means 
"  thirst."  I  can't  tell  you  how  delighted  I  was,  for  I  was  so  thirsty  at 
the  time.  And  so  hungry  and  thirsty  was  I  as  the  Spirit  of  God  just 
threw  his  own  Divine  light  on  those  words,  and  I  saw  that  "  shall " 
means  "  shall,"  and  "  never "  means  "  never,"  and  "  thirst "  means 
"  thirst,"  I  leaped  from  my  seat ;  I  could  not  sit  still.  How  I  did 
praise  God  that  the  thirsty  days  were  all  past !  Well,  you  know,  it  is 
only  a  little  over  twenty  years  since  then,  and  they  haven't  come  back 
since  ;  and  twenty  thousand  years  hence,  when  you  and  I  meet  up 
there,  1  shall  have  the  same  story  to  tell  you.  He  has  promised  it  to 
me  and  I  believe  it. 

But  don't  misread  His  Word.  He  does  not  say  whosoever  drank 
shall  never  thirst ;  but  whosoever  drinketh.  It  is  in  the  present  tense. 
We  are  not,  with  the  appetite  taken  away,  to  stop  drinking  :  "  Whoso- 
ever drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  never  thirst." 
Isn't  it  glorious  to  feel  that  every  one  of  you  may  just  take  that  living 
water  now  and  drink  now  and  thirst  no  more  ;  and  to  find  you  have 
got  the  well,  and  that  you  haven't  to  go  and  seek  it  —  so  different  from 
the  old  pumping  I  used  to  try,  and  that  was  so  ineffective  ?  You  can- 
not give  people  that  which  you  yourself  don't  possess.  What  is  the 
use  of  going  over  the  beds  with  an  empty  watering-can  '?  But  when 
the  Lord  fills  it  and  keeps  it  full  and  gives  you  delight  to  drink  day  by 
day,  it  just  overflows !      Go  amongst  your  beautiful  hills  and  see  a 


The  World's  Conquest.  39 

waterfall,  and  put  a  great  barrel  under  the  waterfall,  and  it  will  soon 
be  full  and  it  will  overflow,  and  as  much  water  will  overflow  from  that 
barrel  as  comes  down  from  above.  Take  that  great  barrel  away  and 
put  a  little  bucket  there.  The  bucket  will  soon  be  just  as  full  as  the 
barrel,  and  when  it  overflows  it  will  overflow  just  as  much.  I  am  the 
little  bucket :  it  is  easily  filled  and  the  flowing  is  so  easy  ;  there  is  no 
toil,  there  is  no  labor. 

I  have  seen  of  late  years  many  missionaries  who  have  drunk  of  this 
living  water  and  who  tell  me  that  missionary  work  has  become  a  new 
thing  to  them.  I  don't  think  a  week  passes  over  me  in  which  I  do  not 
get  letters  from  missionaries  telling  me  of  men  or  women  who,  the  very 
first  time  they  ever  heard  there  was  a  Saviour,  accepted  Ilim  from  that 
moment.  That  is  the  sort  of  work  that  is  wanted.  And  those  who 
are  blest  are  ready  to  give  the  blessing.  You  will  hear  in  some  quar- 
ters a  great  deal  about  Apostolic  Succession  :  I  would  advise  you  to 
become  successors  of  the  Samaritan  woman.  The  twelve  apostles  went 
into  the  cit}'  to  get  food,  but  never  a  person  did  they  bring  to  Jesus. 
But  that  poor  woman  brought  half  the  cit3\  May  God  so  equip  you 
and  equip  me  and  use  us  to  His  ends  ! 

The  Rev.  Jno.  M.  Worrall,  of  Danville  Theological  Seminary,  Ken- 
tucky, said  :  — 

If  the  student  means  to  do  work  in  the  future  he  must  prepare  for 
it  by  present  work.  The  soldier  is  not  made  on  the  field  of  battle,  but 
in  the  place  where  his  drill  goes  on  ;  and  in  my  observation  of  students 
with  whom  I  have  to  deal  every  day,  I  have  been  led  constantly  to 
press  that  question.  Won't  you  begin  now?  Here  perhaps  are  over 
three  hundred  students  about  you,  two-thirds  of  whom  are  not 
Christians.  If  you  can't  win  a  soul  to  Christ  now,  do  you  think  you 
will  be  fit  to  do  it  when  called  to  the  foreign  field  ?  I  want  to  say  to 
students,  the  very  best  way  to  make  that  preparation  is  to  begin  right 
here,  like  one  of  the  early  missionaries  who  on  his  way  to  the  foreign 
field  commenced  with  the  sailors  on  the  ship. 

Now,  to  emphasize  the  remark  of  another  speaker,  if  we  had  that 
preparation  of  heart,  that  knowledge  of  God,  that  sweet  and  blessed 
influence  of  His,  then  we  would  not  wait  for  some  future  time  to  do 
it ;  but  the  overflow  would  water  souls  now,  and  win  souls  now,  and 
trophies  would  go  with  us  long  before  we  reached  the  active  field. 

Mr.  Jameson  :  — 

I  represent  all  North  America  for  the  American  Baptist  Home 
Missionary  Society.  And  it  occurred  to  me,  what  a  grand  thing  it 
will  be  for  these  students  to  prepare  themselves  in  this  great  field  of 


40  The  A\^orld's  Conquest. 

North  America,  which  can  be  the  training  school  for  the  world,  to 
preach  the  Gospel  for  all  the  world.  We  want  students  to  go  out  and 
take  the  vacant  fields  and  the  destitute  fields,  and  preach  the  Gospel, 
and  thus  fit  themselves  for  the  larger  work.  To-day  you  can  fit  your- 
selves admirably  for  real  service  by  going  into  the  great  West.  And, 
while  this  is  strictly  a  foreign  mission  convention,  I  want  to  say  that 
the  work  in  which  I  am  engaged  and  which  I  represent  takes  in  a 
large  part  of  heathendom.  We  have  eleven  millions  of  people  in  Old 
Mexico  who  are  virtually  heathens ;  for  Roman  Catholicism,  in  its 
practical  working,  is  a  heathen  system :  it  is  glossed  over  by  some  of 
the  externals  of  Christianity,  which  constitute  it  a  fraud.  And  so  we 
want  missionaries  to  go  to  Mexico,  and  take  that  great  field  for  the 
Lord  Jesus.  And  so  think  it  over,  dear  friends,  where  you  can  go 
and  practice  as  missionaries  before  you  can  go  into  the  great  foreign 
field.  A  man  who  is  willing  to  take  an  obscure  place  in  his  own  coun- 
try is  just  the  man  that  God  wants  to  take  a  large  field  in  the  great 
world  beyond. 

The  Rev.  R.  Thackwell,  D.D.,  of  Dehra  Doon,  India,  said :  — 

We  cannot  place  too  much  importance  on  the  spiritual  character  of 
the  mission  work.  It  is  possible  there  may  be  a  great  deal  of  spurious  work 
done  that  looks  like  work  done  for  God ;  but  the  Spirit  being  absent 
from  it,  it  is  not  true  work.  We  cannot,  therefore,  put  too  great  stress 
on  this  spiritual  character  of.  the  work.  We  have  had  these  three  things 
put  to  us  to-day,  the  spiritual,  educational,  and  practical.  The  practi- 
cal is  very  much  neglected.  We  need,  for  the  training  of  young  men 
for  the  mission  field,  such  institutions  as  will  develop  these  three  sides. 
We  need  more  such  institutions  as  I  met  once  in  Missouri,  where 
young  men  receive  practical  training  in  carpentering,  book-making, 
printing,  farming,  and  other  industrial  work.  Why  do  I  place 
stress  on  this  phase  of  the  missionary's  education?  For  the  simple 
reason  that  young  men  have  gone  out,  and  still  continue  to  go  out, 
who  are  mere  babes  in  regard  to  business.  They  have  received  an  ex- 
cellent scholastic  education,  but  in  the  field  they  are  at  a  loss  in  regard 
to  the  simplest  things  that  involve  attention  to  business.  On  that  ac- 
count it  is  so  necessary  that  institutions  should  spring  into  existence 
which  from  the  beginning  will  educate  young  men  for  the  mission 
woi-k,  with  a  special  eye  to  their  future  when  they  go  to  the  mission 
field.  If  they  must  train  others  in  different  directions,  how  can  they 
do  so  unless  they  have  the  training  themselves.  Therefore,  they  must 
learn  in  order  to  teach.  And  especially  would  I  lay  stress  upon  this 
point,  that  in  the  future,  young  men  should  be  trained  to  the  practical 
parts  of  the  mission  work,  so  as  to  be  able  to  keep  accounts  and  attend 


The  World's  Conquest.  41 

to  building,  and  cany  on  what  are  called  the  secularities  as  well  as  the 
spiritual  work. 

Rev.  Dr.  Pierson,  of  Philadelphia,  said  :  — 

One  of  the  most  inspiring  thoughts  that  was  given  to  us  this  morn- 
ing was  that  about  reading  life  backwards  from  the  cross  to  the  cradle. 
And  it  reminded  me  of  one  of  the  sweetest  things  I  have  discovered 
in  the  New  Testament  with  regard  to  our  personal  life  in  Christ.  It 
is  what  Paul  says  in  the  twenty-third  verse  of  the  fifth  chapter  of 
Thessalonians :  "  I  pray  God  your  whole  spirit  and  soul  and  body  be 
preserved  blameless  unto  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  Now, 
as  I  believe  in  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  words  as  well 
as  the  thoughts,  I  believe  in  the  inspiration  of  the  order  of  the  words. 
It  is  generally  quoted,  "  body,  soul,  and  spirit."  But  it  is  not  so ;  it  is 
"spirit,  soul,  and  body" ;  and  there  is  a  reason  for  it.  And  I  want  to 
suggest  to  you,  my  fellow  students,  that  if  you  want  the  best  kind  of 
intellect  and  the  best  kind  of  body,  begin  with  your  spiritual  culture, 
and  read  culture  backwards.  Don't  begin  by  trying  to  get  a  good 
body,  then  a  well  furnished  mind,  and  then  look  for  a  spiritual  life ; 
but  begin  with  a  spiritual  life,  and  let  that  permeate  your  intellectual 
development,  and  then  your  physical  culture. 

I  have  made  lots  of  blunders  in  life,  but  God  has  taught  me  some 
lessons,  and  I  will  confess  them  to  you  in  six  words  :  waste  and  haste, 
the  first  pair ;  fear  and  care,  the  second  pair ;  and  pelf  and  self  the  third 
pair  —  three  great  blunders.  Waste  and  haste  :  no  man  has  a  right  to 
waste,  and  no  man  has  a  need  of  haste.  If  you  are  a  child  of  God,  the 
work  is  God's.  It  is  not  even  your  woi'k ;  it  is  not  true  that  you  are 
working  for  God,  but  it  is  true  that  God  is  working  in  and  through  jon. 
I  like  that  exhibition  of  this  fact  in  the  Word  of  God.  It  does  not  even 
make  us  His  agents;  it  makes  us  instruments  through  which  the  agent 
acts.  I  want  you  to  feel  that  there  is  only  one  actor  in  the  universe, 
and  that  is  God.  We  are  all  instruments,  and  we  can  do  nothing  of  our- 
selves. A  saw  can't  set  its  own  teeth ;  a  hammer  cannot  guide  its  own 
handle ;  the  vessel  can't  make  itself,  and  it  can't  fill  itself,  and  it  can't 
bear  itself.  If  you  are  ready  to  be  the  instruments  of  God,  even  though 
men  lose  sight  of  you  as  agent, —  and  just  remember  that  He  is  the  actor 
and  3^ou  are  the  instrument,  —  you  mil  no  longer  then  be  in  a  hurry,  you 
will  no  longer  be  wasting  Divine  material,  and  you  wall  learn  the  Divine 
lesson  that  in  everj^hing  by  prayer  and  supplication  with  thanksgi\ang 
you  can  make  your  request  known  unto  God ;  and  you  will  be  careful 
for  nothing,  and  the  peace  of  God  that  passeth  all  understanding  shall 
keep  your  hearts  and  minds  through  Christ  Jesus. 

Brother  Taylor  saj's  he  has  been  a  nervous  man ;  so  have  I.  He 
says  he  has  been  a  careful  man  ;  so  have  I.     I  believe  carefulness  is  sin. 


42  The  World's  Conquest. 

The  tiling  God  wants  is  that  you  should  be  laid  at  His  feet  and  ready- 
to  be  used,  and  he  will  put  you  in  the  sphere  where  he  wants  you. 
You  need  not  give  yourselves  any  anxiety  except  to  be  where  God  can 
use  you ;  and  that  is  the  only  care  that  you  or  I  ought  to  have ;  and 
that  is  a  lifelong  care, —  to  find  where  God  wants  us  to  be  and  what 
kind  of  people  he  wants  us  to  be,  and  then  submit  everything  else 
to  Him. 

Now,  as  to  pelf  and  self.  Avarice  is  a  care  about  compensation  of 
a  pecuniary  or  worldl}^  sort ;  and  the  man  of  God  should  stand  before 
the  world  and  manifest  the  fact  that  he  is  simply  looking  for  compen- 
sation from  his  God  for  the  work  he  does ;  not  jealous  about  money 
matters,  not  looking  for  paltry  pelf, —  burying  self  out  of  sight,  with  its 
three  great  branches,  avarice,  ambition,  appetite.  Look  at  that  phrase, 
"  Deny  thyself."  Uproot  the  plant  self :  bur^^  self  out  of  sight ;  and 
on  the  ruins  of  self  let  the  temple  of  God  be  built. 

Mr.  W.  Spencer  Walton,  Director  of  the  Cape  General  Mission, 
South  Africa,  said  :  — 

May  I  just  emphasize,  by  a  few  w^ords,  as  one  just  from  the  mission 
field  and  the  very  center  of  fetish  worship  and  superstition,  the  abso- 
lute need  of  going  to  that  work  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost?  Re- 
member that  when  you  get  out  there  it  is  very  different  from  being  in 
a  place  like  America.  You  are  surrounded  with  influences  and 
evils  under  the  full  power  of  the  devil,  and  unless  you  are  filled 
with  the  Holy  Ghost  you  w^ill  soon  be  way  down  to  the  ground.  I  once 
rode  by  a  mission  pointed  out  to  me  as  an  educational  establishment  with 
a  very  little  of  the  spiritual ;  but  the  mission  station  was  absolutely  in 
ruins.  It  was  in  one  of  the  most  wicked  states  in  South  Africa. 
Therefore,  do  remember  the  one  great  truth  —  don't  think  of  leaving 
•  until  you  feel  in  your  own  hearts  that  you  are  filled  with  the  Holy 
Ghost.  There  is  a  word  once  said  by  a  lady  from  America  which  I 
have  never  forgotten  —  Mrs.  Pearsall  Smith  :  "  You  ask  for  more  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  You  are  always  asking  for  it.  Remember  it  is  not 
that,  l)ut  it  is  the  Holy  Ghost  wants  more  of  you."  And  then  when 
you  do  go  there  remember  that  evangelization  precedes  education.  I 
was  told  the  other  day  —  how  far  it  is  true  I  do  not  know  —  that  some 
of  the  preachers  of  infidelity  in  India,  at  the  present  time,  were  educated 
in  our  Christian  colleges.  Therefore  remember  that  evangelization 
goes  before  education.  You  cannot  argue  a  heathen  into  being  a 
Christian,  but  you  can  argue  yourself  out  of  Christianity. 

Let  me  say  another  thing  :  whatever  you  do,  remember  that  you 
get  hold  of  practical  knowledge.  We  don't  want  missionaries  who 
walk  about  in  black  coats  only  and  do  nothing.     We  want  men  who 


The  World's  Conquest.  43 

can  tuck  up  their  trousers  and  thatch  houses,  and  who  know  how  to 
cook  and  to  cook  well,  and  can  do  a  little  tooth  drawing.  If  the  heathen 
know  you  can  pull  teeth  in  Africa,  you  can  not  only  get  their  mouths 
open  to  pull  teeth,  but  to  speak  into  them.  Therefore  I  say,  while  I 
would  not  set  aside  the  higher  education,  remember  that  if  you  want 
to  reach  a  certain  class, —  and  in  Africa  you  haven't  the  clever  China- 
man and  Hindoo,  but  a  man  who  when  educated  is  a  boy  or  a  child  to 
his  very  end  —  you  want  the  practical  education. 

The  Rev.  Geo.  Wm.  Knox,  D.D.,  of  Tokyo,  Japan,  in  closing  the 
discussion,  said  :  — 

On  the  intellectual  side  there  is  no  emphasis  which  can  be  put  which 
is  too  strong.  Take  up  the  single  question  of  the  language.  For  a 
man  in  the  great  Oriental  nations  to  speak  to  the  people  as  he  should 
needs  five  years  of  hard  work  upon  the  language.  Take  your  study  of 
Greek,  of  Latin,  of  Hebrew,  and  of  German,  and  put  them  all  together, 
and  they  don't  equal  the  task  of  learning  the  Japanese  or  the  Chinese 
so  as  to  be  master  of  the  situation.  Now,  if  a  man  in  this  work  slights 
his  preparation,  if  he  finds  he  is  not  ready  to  make  that  preparation 
here  year  after  year,  he  may  have  a  call  to  cobble  shoes  in  the  United 
States,  but  he  has  no  call  to  cobble  them  in  China.    That  is  the  first  point. 

The  second  point,  on  which  also  the  first  speaker  spoke,  is  to  learn 
the  people  to  whom  you  go.  There  is  no  intellectual  preparation  here 
which  is  too  great  to  prepare  a  man  for  the  mastery  of  the  situation 
there.  You  are  going  to  great  empires,  empires  with  great  histories 
and  with  great  philosophies,  and  with  great  literatiire,  and  with  great 
systems  of  ethics  ;  and  there  is  many  a  man  that  goes  there  and  instead 
of  giving  them  the  foolishness  of  preaching,  gives  them  the  preaching 
of  foolishness.  Now,  remember  that  there  is  a  mighty  distinction  be- 
tween these,  and  that  the  man  who  is  going  to  be  successful  in  the 
great  empires  of  the  earth  wants  to  know  what  is  the  message  he  is  to 
bear  and  how  he  is  to  bear  it  to  those  great  peoples. 

In  the  third  place,  a  man  needs  intellectual  training  in  order  that 
he  may  distinguish  between  the  essentials  of  Christianity  and  the  non- 
essentials, so  that  he  may  know  how  he  is  to  preach  Jesus  Christ  as 
St.  Paul  preached  Him.  He  may  have  to  meet  the  stoics  of  China  and 
Japan  in  the  market  place  and  on  Mars  Hill,  and  ought  to  be  prepared 
to  do  it.  You  may  meet  none  of  their  prejudices  with  scorn ;  you  may 
obscure  no  light  which  has  come  to  them  from  God;  but,  understanding 
then-  teachings,  you  may  from  theii-  own  Scriptures  proclaim,  like  St. 
Paul,  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified.  Unless  a  man  is  prepared  to 
discriminate  and  to  understand  his  own  teaching  he  would  far  better 
stay  at  home  than  go  into  the  great  empires  of  the  East. 


44  The  World's  Conquest. 

One  word  as  to  the  practical  preparation  :  Study  the  field  to  which 
you  are  going.  Don't  offer  j^ourself  indiscriminately,  to  be  sent  by  a 
committee  far  off  to  any  field  that  committee  wants  to  send  you  to, 
without  knowing  your  capabilities.  Some  of  you  may  offer  yourselves 
as  professors  in  seminaries  in  the  United  States ;  others  as  ministers  of 
country  parishes ;  others  may  be  ready  to  fill  city  pulpits.  As  you 
would  discriminate  in  regard  to  your  calling  here,  discriminate  in  re- 
gard to  your  calling  there ;  for  the  capabilities  God  has  given  you  are 
part  of  that  calling.  Study  your  field,  and,  when  you  have  studied 
that  and  your  own  capabilities,  then,  on  the  practical  line,  if  you  are 
going  to  South  Africa,  you  have  one  course  of  preparation ;  if  you  are 
going  to  India,  you  have  another  course  of  preparation ;  if  to  China, 
another  course ;  and  there  is  no  indiscriminate  fitting  for  the  foreign 
mission  field  more  than  there  is  an  indiscriminate  fitting  for  every  posi- 
tion or  any  position  in  these  United  States  of  America. 

Now,  as  to  the  spiritual  fitting  of  the  missionary.  Surely  a  mission- 
ary is  only  the  ordinary  Christian,  is  he  not?  He  is  only  what  every 
Christian  should  be,  is  he  not?  Is  there  any  difference  before  God 
between  a  man  who  goes  to  the  foreign  field  and  a  man  who  stays  in 
the  home  field?  Is  not  the  one  single  distinction  between  the  man 
who  is  a  Christian  and  the  man  who  is  not  a  Christian  the  distinction 
between  the  man  who  has  given  himself  to  God  in  the  very  depth  of 
his  being  and  whose  final  prayer  is  always  in  every  circumstance  this, 
"  Thy  will  be  done,"  and  the  other  man,  who  is  merely  baptized  into 
a  name  which  he  takes  upon  his  lips,  but  allegiance  to  which  he  does 
not  avow  ?  It  is  the  true  Christian  experience,  which,  like  St.  Paul, 
knows,  "  That  for  this  end  I  was  called,  namely,  that  through  me  the 
grace  of  God  might  work  for  salvation  to  other  men." 

And  this  in  conclusion  :  Has  there  come  to  you  the  vision  of  Jesus 
Christ  ?  If  you  are  going  to  China  or  Japan  you  need  not  go  there  to 
teach  a  mere  theism.  There  is  splendid  teaching  in  China  and  Japan 
that  comes  close  to  the  purest  theism.  There  are  splendid  ethical 
teachers ;  and  some  of  the  teaching  is  of  the  best.  You  are  to  live 
very  close  to  Jesus  Christ  if  you  are  to  exceed  it.  You  need  not  go 
there  as  the  teacher  of  a  mere  philosophy ;  they  have  a  great  phil- 
osophy, and  you  have  need  to  be  a  profound  thinker  if  you  fathom  its 
depths  or  excel  it.  But  you  go  to  China  and  Japan  to  preach  Jesus 
Christ  and  Him  crucified,  as  St.  Paul  preached  Him.  You  are  to  go 
there,  having  a  glimpse  of  the  glory  of  the  Son  of  God  who  by  His 
grace  and  truth  showed  forever  tliat  He  was  the  only  begotten  Son  of 
the  Most  High.  And  you  are  to  be  able,  having  seen  His  beauty,  to 
stand  up  before  men  who  are  the  followers  of  Confucius,  men  before 
whose  eyes  there  is  a  mighty  thought  of  the  greatness  of  this 
universe,    and    to    whom    you    speak    of    God,    infinite,    eternal,    and 


The  World's  Conquest.  45 

unchangeable,  in  His  being,  wisdom,  and  power, —  that  God  who,  mak- 
ing all  things,  upholds  them  by  the  word  of  His  power ;  and  to  those 
men  of  intelligence,  to  those  men  of  thought,  you  are  to  give  the 
reason  why  you  dare  to  believe  that  the  Son  of  the  infinite  God  was 
incarnate  for  us  and  for  our  salvation.  And  unless  the  reason  which 
you  can  give  is  a  deeper  reason  than  that  which  you  will  extract  from 
any  treatise  on  apologetics,  you  would  far  better  count  the  cost  and  re- 
main this  side  of  the  Pacific. 


SECOND  DAY,  THURSDAY,  MARCH  i,  1894. 

Evening  Session. 

Mr.  W.  E.  Blackstone,  of  Chicago,  conducted  a  brief  devotional 
exercise,  aiid  read  a  portion  of  the  fifth  chapter  of  Second  Corinthians. 

The  Spiritual  Need  and  Claims  of  China, 

The  Rev.  J.  Pludson  Taylor  said  :  — 

I  hope  you  can  all  see  this  small  map  of  China.  It  was  prepared 
for  use  in  England,  and  it  has,  as  you  will  see,  in  one  corner  a  little 
sketch  map  of  England,  that  some  of  us  think  a  great  deal  of,  you 
know.  It  is  just  put  there  to  give  you  an  idea  of  the  scale  of  the  map. 
I  fancy  there  are  some  of  our  people  in  England  who  think  that  England 
is  pretty  near  all  the  world.  They  wouldn't  be  very  long  in  this  great 
country  before  they  found  out  that  England  was  not  all  the  world. 
Might  I  venture  to  remind  such  an  audience  as  this,  an  audience  of 
students  too,  that  America  is  not  all  the  world  ?  It  is  a  very  great 
country,  but  it  is  not  all  the  world.  God  forbid  that  our  hearts  should 
ever  be  satisfied  while  any  part  of  the  world  is  without  Christ.  "  God 
so  loved  the  world,  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son,  that  Avhoso- 
ever  believeth  on  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 
Ah,  He  loved  all  the  world.  Our  blessed  Saviour  could  not  rest  in 
heaven  itself  and  leave  you  and  me  out.  He  must  come  to  seek  us. 
But  those  poor  people  in  China  were  also  embraced  in  that  mission  of 
love,  and  He  did  not  leave  this  earth  of  ours  without  giving  command 
that  we  should  preach  the  Gospel,  aj^e,  and  to  every  creature.  And, 
as  our  dear  friend  Dr.  Pierson  has  truthfully  remarked,  if  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  world  are  ever  to  be  reached  they  must  be  reached  in  one 
generation,  in  each  generation,  for  they  pass  away.  Fifty-nine  genera- 
tions have  passed  away  since  the  Lord  Jesus  said,  "  Preach  the  Gospel 
to  every  creature."  Is  the  sixtieth  also  to  pass  away,  wliile  His  people, 
comparatively  unheeding  His  great  command,  can  leave  nations  like 
China  comparatively  untouched  ? 

I  am  very  safe  to  say  this :  We  have  not  to-day  a  missionary 
worker,  ordained  or  lay  —  a  missionary  or  a  missionary's  wife,  or  an 
unmarried  missionary,  male  or  female,  reckoning  them  all  together  — 
for  every  five  hundred  towns  and  villages  of  northern  and  Avestern 
China.  My  brethren,  does  this  look  like  obeying  our  great  Master's 
command  ?  Oh,  think  not  so  much  of  China's  needs  and  claims  as  of 
Christ's  needs  and  claims.    When  on  earth  His  voice  was  heard.     That 


The  World's  Conquest.  47 

voice  is  silent ;  He  wants  your  voice  to  go.  When  on  earth  His  eyes 
wept  over  the  perishing.  Those  eyes  weep  no  more  ;  He  wants  your 
eyes  to  weep  over  the  perishing.  Christ  has  need  of  you,  dear 
brothers,  Christ  has  need  of  you,  dear  sisters.  To  many  of  you  here 
it  may  be  His  call.  His  claim.  His  duty  Avill  require  you  to  work  at 
home,  and  it  is  very  blessed  to  work  at  home  if  He  wants  you  to. 
But  there  are  many  others,  I  am  quite  sure,  who,  if  they  are  abiding  in 
Christ  Avill  not  abide  in  the  United  States.  The  Lord  has  need  of 
lights  in  the  darkness.     And  oh,  how  great  the  darkness  is  ! 

We  thank  and  praise  God  for  all  that  has  been  done  for  China. 
Some  of  us  are  more  thankful  than  you  can  well  understand.  It  was 
a  very  different  China  to  which  I  went  forty  years  ago,  in  which  I 
landed  forty  years  ago  to-day,  the  1st  of  March, —  a  very  different 
country  from  that  to  which  one  is  to  go  now.  But  while  much  has 
been  accomplished  for  which  we  praise  God,  how  very  much  there  is 
still  unaccomplished.  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  diagram  in  which  the  pop- 
ulation of  China  has  been  estimated  at  250,000,000  ;  300,000,000  would 
not  be  an  excessive  estimate  now.  All  the  Christian  communicants  in 
connection  with  all  the  churches,  including  those  from  Europe  and 
America,  are  exaggerated  by  that  little  white  spot  in  the  center.  Has 
the  Lord  not  need  of  you,  dear  friends,  to  go  and  win  for  Jesus  some 
of  those  who  are  in  darkness  and  in  the  shadow  of  death  ?  Oug^ht 
not  some  of  those  five  hundred  towns  and  villages  to  be  reached  and 
to  be  reached  by  you  ? 

If  we  had  only  the  Chinese  proper  to  deal  with  that  would  be  a 
tremendous  thing.  But  I  want  to  tell  you  that  we  have  in  China 
seventy  different  tribes  of  aborigines,  who  many  of  them  do  not  speak 
Chinese  at  all,  or  at  most  only  a  few  words  in  order  to  have  commerce 
with  the  Chinese  people.  Many  of  these  tribes  are  unsubdued  ;  some 
of  them  have  been  conquered  by  China.  I  believe  there  are  only 
three  of  these  tribes  whose  language  has  ever  been  reduced  to  writing. 
Is  there  not  work  there  for  young  men  who  have  had  the  advantage  of 
college  training  ?  Is  not  there  a  work  to  be  done  to  acquire  these 
languages,  to  reduce  them  to  writing,  to  have  the  privilege  of  translat- 
ing into  them  the  first  verse  of  God's  Holy  Word,  of  giving  the  first 
crumb  of  the  Bread  of  Life  to  this  people  ?  The  Lord  Jesus  not  only 
said  "  to  every  tribe,"  but  to  "  every  creature."  And  oh,  how  numer- 
ous they  are  to  whom  the  Word  of  God  has  never  yet  been  spoken  ! 
Some  of  us  have  been  led  to  very  earnest  prayer  that  God  will  thrust 
forward  one  hundred  young  men.  This  is  work  for  which  A^oung  men 
are  needed,  work  that  they  are  adapted  to  do  ;  this  is  work  that  any 
man  might  indeed  esteem  a  privilege.  Oh,  how  rejoiced  the  angels  of 
God  would  be  were  they  permitted  to  do  this  work  !  And  the  work  to 
be  done  is  not  working  alone.     You  remember  hoAv  the    Acts    of   the 


48  The  World's  Conquest. 

Apostles  commences,  the  very  striking  commencement  of  that  book. 
The  first  verse  is  an  expressive  one,  and  I  have  no  doubt  you  have 
often  thought  of  it :  "  The  former  treatise  have  I  made,  O  Theophilus, 
of  all  that  Jesus  began  both  to  do  and  teach."  He  began  to  work  ;  He 
is  waiting  for  you  to  carry  it  on.  It  will  be  the  work  of  Jesus,  Jesus 
in  you,  if  it  is  ever  done.  And  the  Gospel  must  be  preached  to  these 
people  in  a  very  short  time,  for  they  are  passing  away.  Every  day, 
every  day  ;  oh  how  they  sweep  over  !  Your  great  cataract  Niagara 
seems  to  me  to  teach  us  a  lesson  and  to  afford  us  an  example.  How 
the  water  pours  over  and  over  ceaselessly  by  day  and  by  night,  over 
that  great  cataract !  There  is  a  great  Niagara  of  souls  passing  into  the 
dark  in  China.  Every  day,  every  week,  every  month  they  are  passing 
awaj^, —  a  million  a  month  in  China  are  dying  without  God.  And 
what  a  wonderful  difference  there  is  in  dying  with  God,  dying  with 
God  as  a  Saviour,  and  dying  without  God. 

I  had  a  very  interesting  account  from  one  of  our  lady  missionaries 
sometime  ago  of  a  dear  native  Christian  young  woman  who  fell  asleep 
in  Jesus.  I  should  like  to  tell  it  to  you.  She  was  tw^enty-three  years 
of  age,  and  was  the  only  native  Christian  in  the  village.  Her  light  had 
shone  at  home  ;  a  young  girl  almost,  it  could  not  shine  abroad  ;  for  in 
China  the  young  women  especially  must  keep  very  close  at  home. 
And  now  she  was  dying,  passing  away,  leaving  the  little  village  without 
one  witness  for  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  But  her  heart  was  at  rest ; 
she  was  looking  forward  with  joy  to  seeing  the  King  in  His  beauty. 
Her  face  was  bright  and  happy,  and  told  of  the  joy  within.  It  was  a 
most  triumphant  death.  Yet  there  was  one  burden  upon  that  heart. 
Her  husband  was  a  kind  husband,  not  a  too  common  thing  in  China, 
and  yet  she  had  been  unsuccessful  in  winning  him  for  the  Lord  Jesus. 
She  had  talked  to  him,  had  prayed  for  him,  but  he  had  not  given  his 
heart  to  the  Saviour.  And  that  morning,  feeling  the  end  very  near, 
she  turned  to  him  once  more  and  said,  "  Jesus  is  soon  coming  to  take 
me  to  Himself.  You  can  never  see  me  again,  you  can  never  be  with 
me  again,  unless  you  will  give  your  heart  to  Jesus  too.  Won't  you 
make  me  die  happy  by  giving  me  your  promise  to  give  your  heart  to 
the  Saviour  and  to  follow  me  to  heaven  ? "  And  after  a  little  pause 
her  husband  gave  her  the  promise  she  desired.  If  she  was  happy 
before  she  was  perfectly  radiant  now.  No  desire  seemed  to  be  left  to 
her.  She  composed  herself  to  await  the  summons  that  she  now  felt 
was  so  near. 

While  she  was  waiting  she  heard  the  people  passing  the  street  door 
and  she  knew  where  they  were  going.  It  was  the  fifteenth  day  of  the 
fifteenth  Chinese  moon.  The  Chinese  have  no  Sabbath,  no  weekly 
division  of  time  ;  their  time  is  arranged  by  the  lunar  calendar,  and  the 
fifteenth  full  moon  is  their  worship  day,  as  is  the  new  moon.     They  go 


The  World's  Conquest.  49 

to  the  temples  there,  light  a  candle  or  two,  burn  a  few  sticks  of 
incense,  fall  down  and  prostrate  themselves  before  the  idol,  and  then 
go  home  and  do  the  same  thing  before  the  shrines  in  their  own 
homes.  This  young  woman  knew  the  people  were  going  to  the 
guardian  god  of  the  village  to  worship,  and  a  divine  sympathy  and 
pity  for  them  filled  her  soul.  But  what  could  she  do,  a  mere  dying 
girl  ?  Had  she  been  well  she  could  not  have  gone  out  amongst  them ; 
how  much  less  when  she  was  dying.  A  few  moments  of  looking  up 
to  God  and  then  strange  words  came  from  her  lips  :  "  Throw  open  the 
doors,"  she  said,  "  and  call  the  people  in.  Let  them  see  how  a  Christian 
can  die."  They  had  never  seen  a  Christian  die  before ;  there  had 
never  been  a  Christian  there  to  die  before  :  and  now  surely  the  Spirit 
of  God  led  her  to  wish  the  people  called  in.  The  doors  were 
opened,  the  people  came  in,  they  stood  around,  and  they  looked 
at  that  dying  girl.  Never  had  they  seen  a  young  bride  on  the  day  of 
her  wedding  so  bright,  so  rejoiced,  so  happy,  as  they  saw  this  dying 
girl,  expecting  soon  to  see  the  King  in  His  beauty,  expecting  that  He 
was  coming  to  take  her  to  Himself,  to  the  place  He  had  prepared  for 
her  in  her  Father's  home.  And  she  was  constrained  as  she  looked 
upon  them  to  tell  them  that  God  had  not  only  taken  away  the  fear  of 
death,  but  made  her  dying  day  the  very  happiest  day  of  all  her  life, 
and  to  exhort  them  to  come  to  the  same  Almighty  precious  Saviour. 
But  while  she  was  speaking,  surely  her  ear  caught  sounds  that  no  other 
ear  heard.  She  looked  up,  and  brighter  still  her  face  became  as  she 
waved  an  adieu  with  her  hands  :  "  Jesus  is  coming,  Jesus  is  coming  ! " 
She  fell  back ;  He  had  taken  her  home  to  be  with  Him  forever. 

The  people  quietly  and  silently  slipped  out  of  the  place.  They 
Avent  and  talked  about  it  in  the  villag-e  and  in  the  surroundino-  villages. 
The  only  witness  for  God  was  gone  ;  but  the  witness  of  her  death  did 
more  for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  than  a  whole  life  might  have  done. 
It  was  not  many  months  before  her  husband  and  four  of  her  own 
female  relatives  were  converted  and  baptized  and  became  church  mem- 
bers ;  and  in  the  surrounding  villages  as  well  as  her  own  village  to- 
day the  work  of  God  is  spreading.  God,  by  the  death  of  that  dear 
young  woman,  did  more  than  her  life  could  have  accomplished  for 
Him. 

But  oh,  how  many  there  are  who  die  far  otherwise,  who  are  stepping 
into  the  thick  darkness,  conscious  darkness !  How  many  there  are  of 
the  poor  women  of  China  who  are  djnng  in  the  dark ;  they  have  no 
expectation  of  going  to  heaven.  There  is  no  heaven  for  women  in 
China,  The  eighteen  hells  are  for  the  women  in  China,  but  there  is 
no  place  for  them  in  heaven.  The  Light  of  Asia  does  not  shine  very 
brightly  into  the  life  of  the  Chinese  women.  If  she  lives  five  hundred 
virtuous  lives  she  may  possibly  become  a  little  boy,  and  many  lives 


50  The  World's  Conquest. 

more  must  be  lived  before  there  is  a  chance  for  the  lowest  step  in  the 
lowest  of  the  nine  heavens.  But,  thank  God,  there  are  not  a  few 
among  the  forty  thousand  communicants  in  China  who  have  learned 
a  better  stor^^  than  that,  and  know  of  Him  who  died  to  redeem  women 
as  well  as  men,  and  who  know  that  in  Christ  Jesus  they  are  assured  of 
their  home  above,  as  their  brothers,  their  husbands,  their  sons  are. 

But  we  need  messengers  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  these  jDeople,  for 
they  are  passing  away ;  and  while  this  meeting  has  been  in  conduct, 
since  we  commenced  at  half-past  seven  —  more  than  an  hour  and  a 
quarter  has  passed  since  some  of  us  came  into  this  place- — how  many 
have  passed  into  the  dark  ?  Nearly  two  thousand  have  died,  and  they 
never  heard  that  there  was  a  Jesus.  To  use  a  very  common  expres- 
sion, "  Why,  we  never  heard  before  there  was  Jesus,  that  there  was  a 
Saviour."  That  is  not  an  uncommon  expression  of  the  multitudes  of 
China.  That  great  country,  as  you  see,  is  divided  into  many  prov- 
inces. In  none  of  the  provinces  is  the  staff  of  missionary  workers 
sufficient  to  enable  them  at  all  to  overtake  the  work.  There  are  very 
few  provinces  in  which  the  Gospel  has  been  definitely  preached  in  every 
city,  to  say  nothing  of  the  towns  and  villages.  There  are  a  great  many 
provinces  in  China  in  which  there  are  capital  cities  in  which  the  Gospel 
has  not  yet  been  preached.  And  yet  there  are  very  few  cities  in  China — 
there  are  a  few  —  in  which  it  would  be  impossible  to  preach.  What  is 
the  reason  the  laborers  are  so  few  ?  "  Pray  ye  therefore  the  Lord  of 
the  harvest  that  He  would  send  forth  laborers  into  His  harvest." 

The  languages  of  China,  for  the  dialects  are  really  languages,  are 
not  easy  of  acquisition  ;  but  on  the  other  hand  the  task  of  acquiring 
the  language  is  not  an  impossible  one.  In  fact,  I  do  not  believe  in 
impossible  languages.  Whatever  a  babe  in  the  world  manages  to  learn 
in  eighteen  months,  between  the  ages  of  six  months  and  two  years,  I 
don't  believe  in  a  consecrated  man  or  woman  being  unable  to  acquire. 
Surely  we  have  got  as  much  wit  as  a  little  six  months  old  babe.  And 
if  we  would  only  take  the  divine  message  to  speak,  some  of  us  would 
be  better  speakers  than  we  otherwise  might  be.  I  was  very  much  struck, 
when  I  first  reached  Shanghai,  by  one  fact.  There  were  some  mission- 
aries from  the  Southern  States  of  America  who  had  brought  out  with 
them  slave  girls  and  boys  as  personal  attendants.  And  I  noticed  that 
in  four  or  six  months  these  slaves,  who  were  living  in  the  kitchen  with 
the  servants,  were  talking  Chinese  fluently.  A  year  after,  the  master 
and  mistress  were  glad  to  use  them  for  interj^reters.  Is  it  that  the 
African  intellect  is  so  much  brighter  than  the  Southern  wit?  I  don't 
suppose  so ;  but  it  was  because  the  slave  had  been  in  contact  with  the 
people.  If  you  had  to  fill  a  sponge  drop  by  drop  it  would  take  a  long 
time.  Dip  it  in  the  bath  and  you  will  find  it  will  suck  and  till  all  right. 
And  that  is  the  way  to  acquire  any  language.     Go  right  amongst  the 


The  World's  Conquest.  51 

people,  and  get  right  away  from  us  who  speak  your  own  language,  and 
you  will  be  surprised  at  your  progress,  provided  you  have  first  your 
ear  trained  a  little  so  that  you  may  listen  correctly  and  imitate  cor- 
rectly. A  great  gain  of  time  in  Chinese  is  made  when  you  can  have  a 
missionary  teacher  for  a  little  time  to  help  you  over  the  initial  difficul- 
ties of  j^ronun elation.  When  you  get  among  the  people  who  cannot 
speak  any  English  whatever  and  you  have  no  interpreter,  it  is  astonish- 
ing how  quickly  you  will  be  able  to  say  a  little  to  them  and  get  grad- 
ually to  understand  them.  There  is  no  insuperable  difficulty  to  a 
person  of  moderate  j^outh  and  moderate  intelligence  in  acquiring  the 
languages  of  a  large  part,  at  least,  of  China. 

China  is  a  big  country.  You  sometimes  hear  this  and  that  said  of 
China ;  but  things  that  might  be  quite  true  of  one  part  of  the  country 
may  be  quite  untrue  of  another.  If  you  go,  for  instance,  into  a  north- 
ern city,  after  being  accustomed  to  the  cities  of  central  China,  you  will 
feel  you  are  in  another  country  almost ;  the  very  buildings  and  every- 
thing are  so  different.  And  in  the  south  of  China  the  differences  are 
very  great  again.  But  at  any  rate,  in  a  large  part  of  China,  a  person  of 
average  intelligence  will  not  find  the  language  an  insuperable  difficulty. 
It  will  need  work ;  it  will  need  plod ;  it  will  need  perseverance  for 
years :  but  you  will  very  soon  be  able  to  begin  and  do  a  little.  And 
the  Lord  wants  willing,  skilful  workers,  who  love  work  and  mean  to 
work  and  would  work  whether  they  stayed  at  home  or  went  to  China. 
And  when  one  or  another  goes  with  a  heart  yearning  for  souls,  love  is 
very  ingenious  and  God  wonderfully  blesses  prayerful  effort,  and  very 
soon  he  gives  help.  The  Lord  was  pleased  to  give  me  to  see  two  men 
converted  the  first  year  I  was  in  China.  That  greatly  encouraged  me. 
A  little  later  on,  when  I  could  talk  more  fluently  with  him,  I  asked  the 
first  of  them  who  was  brought  to  Christ  what  it  was  that  first  impressed 
him  and  led  him  to  feel  his  need  of  the  Saviour.  He  told  me  it  was 
the  intense  eai-nestness  with  which  one  scarcely  able  to  speak  a  sentence 
that  would  not  make  them  laugh  had  sought  to  bring  the  Gospel  to  bear 
upon  him.  The  intense  earnestness  that  one  showed  in  trying  to  talk 
was  what  made  him  feel  that  surely  this  matter  of  religion  must  be  a 
serious  thing.     God  can  use  great  weakness. 

What  blessing  might  arise  from  this  meeting  if  one  hundred  of 
you  would  come  to  one  hundred  places  in  China,  and  carry  the  Gospel 
to  the  people  who  sit  in  darkness !  How  you  would  praise  God 
throughout  eternity  that  you  had  had  the  privilege  of  winning  them. 
China's  unspeakable  needs  I  do  not  know  how  to  bring  before  you. 
The  Lord  Jesus'  unspeakable  needs,  how  can  I  bring  them  before  you! 
May  that  passage  that  oiir  dear  brother,  Mr.  Blackstone,  read  and  re- 
read to  us,  sink  deeply  into  every  heart,  so  that  we  may  all  be  led  to 


52  The  World's  Conquest. 

realize  that  it  is  our  privilege  to  live  not  for  ourselves,  but  for  Him 
who  died  and  rose  again. 

You  remember  how  the  sixth  chapter  of  Isaiah  begins.  The  projihet 
Isaiah  saw  One  sitting  on  the  throne,  and  the  seraphim  were  chant- 
ing His  praise  and  crpng,  "  Holy,  holy,  holy  !  "  Have  you  ever  had 
his  vision  of  the  Lord  seated  upon  the  throne  ?  We  have  all  of  us 
seen  the  Saviour ;  but  have  we  all  of  us  seen  the  King,  the  Lord  of 
hosts  ?  Is  He  King  ?  Is  the  only  thing  that  you  and  I  want,  with 
regard  to  the  disposition  of  our  lives  and  our  whole  service,  to  hear 
His  voice,  to  be  quite  sure  of  His  will  ?  Is  that  the  only  thing  ?  We 
see  the  things  around  us ;  they  take  possession  of  us ;  they  influence 
us.  But  we  may  see  them,  and  fail  to  see  God.  When  Isaiah  did  see 
God,  he  was  deeply  humiliated ;  he  felt  himself  a  man  of  unclean  lips 
And  then  one  of  the  seraphim  brought  a  live  coal  from  the  altar  and 
touched  his  lips.  That  is  the  only  thing  that  will  cleanse  the  lips, — " 
we  must  come  near  the  altar ;  it  is  through  sacrifice  alone  we  can  be 
cleansed.  We  want  not  a  dead  coal,  but  a  live  coal ;  we  want  the  fire 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  touch  our  lips,  and  fit  us  for  service.  And  no 
sooner  had  he  been  so  cleansed,  so  prepared  by  the  vision  of  the  Holy 
One  and  His  cleansing,  by  contact  with  the  live  coal  from  off  the  altar, 
than  he  said, — "  Then  also  I  heard  the  voice  of  the  Lord  saying, 
'Whom  shall  I  send,  and  who  will  go  for  us?'"  The  Lord  was 
speaking  all  the  time,  but  he  had  not  heard  it  before.  The  Lord 
is  speaking  to-night.  Are  you  hearing ?  "I  heard  the  Lord  say- 
ing "  —  He  is  saying  all  the  time.  That  map  surely  is  a  voice  from 
the  Lord  to  many  of  you  to  go  in  and  meet  the  need.  The  very  fact 
that  you  are  brought  here  to-night  to  consider  China's  great  need  is 
surely  the  voice  of  the  Lord  saying,  "  Whom  shall  I  send,  and  who 
will  go  for  us."  He  wants  volunteers.  Many  of  you  here  are  student 
volunteers.  I  believe  there  are  many  students  here  who  are  not  yet 
volunteers.  I  hope  you  will  cheer  the  heart  of  the  volunteers  by  sub- 
scribing to  the  pledge,  and  that  very  soon.  Pray  over  the  matter  and 
subscribe  to  the  pledge,  and  if  you  are  not  volunteers  already,  come 
in.  The  Lord  is  saying,  "Whom  shall  I  send?"  and  He  won't  send 
those  who  are  not  willing  to  go.  You  may  say,  "  China  does  not  at- 
tract me."  Does  not  the  Master  attract  you?  "India  does  not  attract 
me."  Does  not  the  Master  attract  you  ?  "  Who  will  go  for  us  ?  "  — 
for  Him  who  died  and  rose  again,  that  their  ears  may  be  opened  to 
hear  the  voice  of  the  Lord. 

Now,  with  regard  to  the  matter  of  call,  I  should  like  to  say  just  a 
few  words ;  it  is  a  most  important  subject.  There  is  a  general  call 
however,  and  there  it  is :  "  Go  ye  therefore,  and  make  disciples  of  all 
the  nations."  A  general  call  to  whom?  To  each  one  of  us  here  present 
without  exception :  to  those  who  are  well  stricken  in  years ;  to  those 


The  World's  Conquest.  53 

who  are  very  young ;  to  all  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  That  is 
the  command,  "  Go  ye."  But  I  would  like  here  just  to  remark  that  that 
word  "  go  "  is  rather  important ;  it  is  not  in  the  passive,  "  be  sent,"  but 
it  is  "go."  I  have  met  people  who  thought  they  would  like  to  go 
and  be  missionaries ;  but  there  were  difficulties  in  their  way,  and  they 
didn't  see  how  they  could  be  sent,  and  so  they  concluded  they  had 
made  a  mistake,  and  there  was  no  call  for  them.  The  Master  never 
said,  "  Be  sent ; "  He  said,  ''•  Go  ye  therefore  and  make  disciples  of  all 
the  nations."  When  are  j^ou  to  go?  Why,  at  once.  I  am  very  glad 
that  has  been  emphasized  more  than  once  to-day.  Begin  at  once. 
There  are  some  unsaved  ones  probably  with  you  here  in  Detroit,  and 
there  are  others  in  your  own  colleges ;  and  it  has  been  very  well 
said  that  the  time  to  begin  is  now,  and  the  place  to  begin  is  at  home  — 
"  Beginning  at  Jerusalem."  It  is  very  hard  sometimes  to  bear  witness 
to  those  who  are  very  near  to  us ;  it  is  much  easier  to  go  to  a  distance, 
to  go  down  in  the  slums,  and  win  those  there,  than  those  who  are  sit- 
ting at  the  breakfast  table  with  us.  But  the  light  that  won't  shine  at 
home  won't  shine  abroad.     Go  at  once. 

Then  comes  the  question,  What  part  of  the  field  are  we  to  go 
in  ?  There  is  only  one  field ;  that  is  a  very  large  one.  There  is 
plenty  of  room  left  yet.  The  field  is  the  world.  How  am  I  to 
know  ?  Suppose  that  I  see  some  of  our  friends  trying  to  move  this 
table,  and  two  get  hold  of  that  end,  and  nobody  here  at  the  other 
end,  how  am  I  to  know  which  end  to  go  to?  I  would  not  think 
that  a  difficult  question.  Should  I  not  be  very  stupid  if  I  needed 
some  one  to  come  to  me  and  say,  "  You  take  hold  of  that  side, 
there  is  no  one  there?"  Supposing  you  have  a  servant  in  your 
home,  and  the  mistress  found  she  was  a  very  obedient  girl  and 
would  do  anything  she  was  told  to  do,  but  did  nothing  but  what  she 
was  told  to  do.  She  is  told  to  dust  the  table,  and  she  stands  and  has 
to  be  told  everything  that  is  to  be  done.  I  fancy  there  would  soon  be 
a  change  in  that  household,  and  somebody  else  got  that  had  a  little 
head,  and  could  see  what  was  wanted  and  do  what  was  wanted.  Now? 
the  Lord,  I  believe,  wants  us  to  use  our  intellects,  to  use  our  hearts,  to 
use  every  faculty  He  has  given  us.  So  it  was  said  of  Saul  that  when 
the  Spirit  of  God  came  upon  him  he  was  to  do  as  occasion  should  serve, 
for  God  was  with  him.  Now,  the  occasion  serves  for  you  to  go  to 
China,  if  you  are  fit  and  qualified  for  it,  for  there  is  plenty  of  room 
there  and  no  one  filling  it.  The  same  is  true  of  India  and  of  Africa ; 
and  you  will  find  out,  if  you  are  waiting  for  God,  what  particular  23art 
of  the  field  He  wants  you  to  go  to.  And  if  to  that  j^articular  part  of 
the  field  to  which  you  intend  to  go,  there  are  insuperable  obstacles  to 
your  going,  be  very  glad  indeed.  Why  so?  Because  when  He  re- 
moves those  insuperable  obstacles  and  sets  before  you  the  open  door, 


54  The  World's  Conquest. 

you  will  have  all  the  more  confidence  that  you  are  doing  His  will,  and 
you  will  find  that  He  will  make  His  providence  fit  in  with,  the  leading 
of  His  Spirit,  so  that,  like  the  Apostle  Paul,  you  shall  surely  "gather" 
the  will  of  the  Lord,  Paul  was  not  led  by  the  Spirit  to  go  north  or 
south,  or  to  Bithynia  or  Asia,  There  was  a  sea  before  him.  Under 
these  circumstances  there  came  a  call.  The  man  of  Macedonia  ap- 
peared :  And  putting  all  things  together,  we  assuredly  gathered  that 
God  would  have  us  cross  to  Europe.  And  cross  they  did,  God  will  make 
His  will  quite  clear  before  you  if  you  will  seek  it.  But  begin  by  sign- 
ing the  volunteer  pledge  and  joining  the  volunteer  band ;  encourage 
them  by  your  presence  and  by  your  efforts ;  and  who  knows  but  you 
may  be  the  means  of  inducing  half  a  dozen  others  to  take  up  the 
Lord's  command,  and  go  and  serve  Him  in  that  part  of  the  world  that 
He  will  select  for  jow. 

Mr.  Mott  then  said  :  — 

There  is  one  whose  words  on  the  j^rinted  page  have  brought  more 
inspiration  and  blessing  into  the  lives  of  American  students  than  any 
one  living  to-day  among  the  young  volunteers  that  are  now  at  work 
on  the  field.  And  we  count  it  all  joy  to-night  that  we  have  with  us 
Miss  Geraldine  Guinness,  of  the  China  Inland  Mission,  who  has  also 
come  from  England  to  be  with  us  during  this  Convention,  and  who 
will  speak  to  us  now  as  we  carefully  listen,  as  in  the  presence  of  Him 
who  has  sent  her. 

Miss  Guinness  said :  — 

No  doubt,  my  dear  Christian  friends,  you  have  all  connected  these 
two  things, —  the  last  words  of  Christ  on  earth  and  His  first  act.  What 
were  those  last  words  ?  "  The  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth."  They 
were  nearest  to  His  heart  in  that  final  moment,  when.  His  own  indi- 
vidual work  finished,  He  was  going  back  to  the  Father,  And  what 
was  His  first  act  ?  The  sending  down  of  the  mighty  enablement  of 
power  to  fit  us  to  carry  out  that  last  command.  With  that  command 
ringing  in  our  hearts  down  all  the  ages,  and  with  that  mighty  power  in 
our  hearts  to-night,  we  are  still  face  to  face  with  the  needs  of  the 
world. 

The  first  disciples  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  very  clearly  recognized 
theii'  position.  It  was  a  living  Christ  they  went  out  to  preach  to  the 
world,  an  ascended  and  living  Saviour.  They  witnessed  to  His  resurrec- 
tion as  they  had  seen  it  with  their  own  eyes ;  and  that  great  inheritance 
of  testimony  comes  down  to  us,  and  we  are  still  called  to  be  witnesses 
to  a  risen  Saviour.  About  fourteen  times  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
we  find  that  expression,  "  Witness  of  His  resurrection."     That  is  what 


The  World's  Coxquest.  55 

they  were.  They  went  out  into  the  midst  of  heathenism  and  corrup- 
tion and  ■\\dtnessed  to  a  risen  Saviour,  able  to  deliver  all  men  every- 
where. We  have  not  witnessed  His  resiuTection  with  these  eyes  of 
sense  as  they  did,  but  we  have  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  make 
real  to  us  a  living  Christ,  and  our  call  is  to  be  witnesses  to  His  resurrec- 
tion all  over  the  woi'ld,  I  had  not  been  many  hours  in  New  York  on 
Satiu-day,  on  landing  from  the  vessel  that  brought  us  from  England, 
before  my  eye  was  attracted  by  a  startling  placard  on  the  wall  in  that 
city.  I  saw  in  front  of  us  on  the  wall  in  huge  red  letters  three  words, 
"  The  Living  Christ."  I  don't  know  what  they  were  meant  for ;  they 
probably  referred  to  some  picture.  Those  words  ever  since  have 
rung  in  my  heart.  Oh,  volunteer  missionaries  and  missionaries  from 
the  work,  is  it  not  true  that  what  the  world  wants  is  a  hving  Christ? 
We  want  to  take  the  personal  living  Saviour  to  the  African  in  his 
bondage,  to  the  Hindoo  in  his  sins  and  superstitions,  to  the  Chinaman 
in  his  ignorance  and  vice ;  and  before  we  can  take  Him  we  must  know 
Him  as  a  living  Christ  in  the  power  of  His  Spirit.  Do  we  all  know 
Him?  Is  He  to  us  all  the  brightest  reality  of  our  lives?  Does  the 
Holy  Sphit  of  God  reveal  to  iis  day  by  day  the  Uving  power  of  Jesus 
Christ  ?  The  heathen  don't  want  our  doctrines ;  they  don't  want  our 
missionary  preaching ;  what  they  want  is  a  Christ  —  the  Christ  lived 
among  them.  They  want  a  living  Christ ;  and  we  want  to  go  and  live 
Him  amongst  the  people  everywhere,  and  testify  by  lip,  but  most  of 
all  by  life,  the  glorious  fact  of  His  jaresent  resurrection  power  made 
real  to  us  and  through  us  by  the  Holy  Spu-it. 

That  is  what  China  needs.  Look  at  that  vast  land  on  the  map  so  in- 
tensely real  to  some  of  our  hearts ;  I  wish  we  could  make  it  real  to 
you.  All  the  world  is  dear  to  us ;  but  just  now,  in  this  hour,  we  con- 
line  om-selves  to  China,  because  we  cannot  take  in  all  the  world  at 
once.     Think  then  of  China  alone  for  a  moment. 

In  that  vast  country  you  have  heard  that  a  million  a  month,  more 
than  a  thousand  every  hour,  are  passing  away  into  a  Christless  eternity. 
Do  we  realize  it?  Just  to  get  some  idea  of  the  population  of  that  coun- 
try, take  yom-  Bible  in  your  hand  and  turn  over  the  pages.  Count  the 
chapters,  —  it  would  take  a  long  time ;  count  the  verses,  count  the 
words,  —  an  endless  task.  Go  further  ;  count  all  the  letters  in  the  Bible 
from  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  to  the  last  of  Revelation,  every  single 
letter,  without  missing  one.  Have  you  got  then  the  number  of  the 
people  in  that  one  land  alone  ?  Far  from  it.  You  must  do  it  again  ; 
you  must  do  it  ten  times,  twenty  times,  forty  times,  eighty  times,  before 
you  reach  the  sum  of  the  population  of  China.  The  letters  of  eighty 
Bibles  are  not  enough  to  represent  the  souls  in  that  land.  And,  think 
of  it,  they  are  all  gone  in  one  generation  ;  and  another  generation  has 
come  to  take  their  place,  equally  dark,  equally  ignorant,  equally  needy. 


56  The  World's  Conquest. 

Six  years  ago  it  was  my  great  joy  and  privilege  to  go  to  China  for  the 
first  time.  Six  years  ago  about  this  time  I  landed  upon  the  shores  of 
that  great  country',  my  life  given  to  China.  We  are  going  back  now. 
It  is  a  far  greater  joy  to  go  the  second  time  than  it  was  even  at  first. 
We  try,  as  far  as  we  can,  to  bring  the  living  Christ  near  to  the  people  ; 
and  so  when  we  get  to  Shanghai  we  put  off  our  fine  dress  the  day  after 
we  land,  and  all  of  us  get  right  into  Chinese  dress,  and  try  to  get  close 
to  the  })eople  as  ever  we  can. 

After  I  had  been  in  China  about  six  weeks  I  lived  in  the  natiA'e 
farmhouses  for  three  months,  entirely  amongst  the  people  in  their  own 
homes,  with  one  young  lady  companion.  We  did  not  see  much  of  one 
another,  because  we  were  both  so  busy  all  the  time,  living  among  the 
people,  eating  at  the  table,  sharing  their  family  life  in  every  respect  for 
three  months.  We  had  no  door  to  our  room,  only  a  curtain  over  the 
doorway,  and  morning,  noon,  and  night  we  were  among  the  people  of 
that  district.  Since  then,  off  and  on,  other  ladies  of  our  mission  have 
lived  in  the  same  way.  A  little  while  ago  I  had  a  letter  from  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Bible  Society  Avho  had  been  traveling  in  that  district ;  he 
wrote  to  me  :  "  Four  years  ago  you  were  living  in  a  certain  neighbor- 
hood. I  passed  through  that  district  the  other  day  selling  Scriptures, 
and  I  am  glad  to  tell  you  the  people  have  not  forgotten  you,  and  they 
asked  for  you  in  very  many  villages  and  hamlets  round  about  that  dis- 
trict; and  I  have  not  found  in  all  my  travels  in  China  any  district  so 
open  to  the  Gospel  as  that.  /  Everywhere  I  went  they  welcomed  me 
and  wanted  to  hear  about  the  message.  I  have  not  found  an^^nvhere 
such  an  attentive  hearing  for  the  Gospel  as  in  that  district  where  you 
have  lived  among  the  people  in  that  simple  sort  of  way."  I  just  men- 
tion that  to  show  you  how  the  Chinese  respond  to  Jesus  Christ  brought 
near  to  them.  If  our  lives  are  of  any  value,  it  is  only  inasmuch  as 
they  bring  Him.  When  they  see  Him  in  us  they  love  Him,  they  want 
more  of  Him,  they  open  their  hearts  to  Him.  I  think  it  should  be  the 
aim  of  every  missionary  just  to  live  near  the  people,  as  close  as  possible 
to  them,  that  they  may  get  a  sight  of  Jesus.") 

There  are  two  or  three  thoughts  impressed  upon  my  mind  particu- 
larly about  China.  I  have  had  a  missionary  experience  of  only  four 
years,  but,  after  all,  a  somewhat  varied  one.  First  of  all,  the  gi'eat 
accessibility  of  the  people.  If  you  want  a  sphere  where  you  can  get  at 
the  people,  you  may  covet  to  go  to  China.  That  vast  land  is  open  to 
the  evangelistic  efforts  of  the  missionary  from  end  to  end.  There  are 
parts  of  it  where  we  cannot  go  to  live  at  present ;  but  all  up  and  down 
the  great  rivers,  on  the  endless  canals,  in  the  villages  by  the  Ava3'side, 
in  the  crowded  towns  and  cities,  right  over  the  populous  plains  and 
amongst  the  mountain  villages,  w^e  can  go  freely  anywhere,  taking  the 
Scriptures  with  us,  talking  to  the  people  as  we  go,  evangelizing  them. 


The  Woklu's  Con<2Uest.  57 

sowing  the  seed  broadcast ;  and  wherever  we  go  there  are  multitudes 
to  listen. 

Just  an  illustration  of  that.  The  last  time  I  was  coming  down  from 
the  province  of  Honan,  in  the  interior,  to  the  coast,  we  spent  Sunday  at 
a  little  town  on  the  side  of  a  river.  Xo  missionaries  had  ever  been 
there  before.  It  was  a  remote  village,  perhaps  a  thousand  miles  in  the 
interior.  As  soon  as  Ave  had  our  breakfast  we  went  out  to  try  to  see 
the  people.  We  had  a  native  evangelist  with  us.  From  end  to  end, 
as  far  as  we  could  see,  the  bank  was  just  lined  with  a  mass  of  people. 
I  should  think  there  must  have  been  about  a  thousand  men  gathered 
along  the  bank  to  see  the  foreigners.  They  were  orderly,  polite  ;  there 
was  no  rudeness.  Our  evangelist  went  ashore  and  began  distributing 
tracts  and  Scriptures ;  but  we  stayed  on  the  boat.  The  women  were 
so  anxious  to  get  to  us  that  they  had  a  ferry-boat  move  them  out  to  our 
junk  which  was  lying  in  the  stream.  From  morning  till  night  they 
came,  boat  load  after  boat  load  of  women,  to  our  little  boat ;  fifty  at  a 
time  would  come  out ;  and  they  would  pay  for  it,  just  to  come  on  the 
ferrjTaan's  boat.  They  sat  on  the  outside  and  inside  of  the  boat.  My 
friend  was  inside  and  I  was  outside.  We  spent  the  whole  of  that  day 
just  telling  the  Gospel  to  those  who  had  never  heard  it  before,  while 
the  evangelist  was  on  the  shore  preaching  to  the  men.  There  wasn't 
any  trouble  in  holding  them,  and  a  number  of  those  women  would  not 
leave  the  boat  until  they  had  to  go  off  of  it  to  make  room  for  others. 
We  were  tu-ed  when  it  got  towards  evening,  and  when  the  sun  began  to 
go  down  the  last  group  of  women  left  our  boat.  Many  hundi-eds  must 
have  heard  the  Gospel  that  day  for  the  first  time,  perhaps  for  the  only 
time.  And  I  remember  well  standing  alone  on  the  deck  of  that  little 
boat  out  in  that  Chinese  river  and  watching  the  groups  of  women  as 
they  passed  away  back  to  their  homes  amongst  the  trees  and  in  the 
villages ;  and  I  turned  to  our  leading  helper  or  evangelist  who  was 
standing  there  and  said  to  him,  "  I  am  going  to  wiite  home  to  England 
to  my  father.  Have  you  any  message  to  send  him  ?  "  He  knew  my 
father  was  interested  in  training  missionaries.  He  said,  "  Let  the 
English  lady  tell  her  venerable  father  that  the  harvest  is  very  great." 
He  looked  away  over  the  far-reaching  country  and  said,  "  The  harvest 
is  great  and  the  laborers  are  few." 

But  more  than  that,  one  is  impressed  with  the  fact  of  their  solemn 
and  a^A^ul  need.  Brothers  and  sisters,  no  language  can  paint  the  need 
of  those  souls  in  that  distant  land,  the  darkness,  the  sin  and  sorrow  and 
fear  —  those  seem  to  l)e  the  three  things  that  reign  supreme  in  every 
pai't  of  China,  sin,  sorrow,  and  fear.  One  dark  cold  night  the  mission- 
ary in  whose  family  I  was  living  in  the  pro\ance  of  Honan  Avas  called 
out  suddenly  to  see  a  man  who  had  taken  opium  to  poison  himself.  He 
found  a  fine,  middle-aged  man,  who  had  evidently  taken  a  very  large 


58  The  World's  Conquest. 

quantity  of  poison,  and  was  passing  rapidly  beyond  the  reach  of  human 
help.  The  old  father  and  mother,  the  wife  and  children,  were  there,  all 
in  the  greatest  distress  and  agony.  They  pleaded  with  the  missionary  to 
save  his  life  ;  and  the  man  himself  was  most  anxioiis  to  be  saved. 
After  an  hour  or  two  the  opium  was  thrown  up  and  the  man  was  saved. 
Then  the  missionary  inquired  the  cause  of  the  tragedy,  and  he  learned 
that  three  nights  before,  the  man,  who  was  the  only  son  of  his  parents, 
the  bread-winner  of  the  household  —  he  was  a  steady,  sober,  honest 
man  —  had  been  asleep,  and  he  woke  up  siiddenly  and  heard  a  voice 
call  him.  There  was  nobody  awake  in  the  house.  He  was  startled, 
and  thought  it  was  a  strange  thing.  Next  night  the  same  thing  hap- 
pended.  The  third  night  it  happened;  and  then  he  knew,  or  thought 
he  knew,  that  it  was  an  evil  spirit  that  was  calling  him,  and  that  if  he 
did  not  obey  the  call,  if  he  did  not  take  opium  and  put  an  end  to  his 
life,  some  terrible  calamity  would  happen.  And  just  under  the  influ- 
ence of  terror  or  fear  that  man,  the  bread-winner  of  the  household,  the 
father  of  the  family,  took  opium  to  poison  himself ;  and  if  there  had  not 
been  a  missionary  there  he  must  have  died.  Just  imagine  what  that 
represents  of  the  inner  heart-life  of  the  people.  How  many  instances 
one  could  give  of  the  same  kind  of  thing,  and  of  far  darker,  sadder 
things  than  that.  The  sufferings  and  sorrows  that  surround  us  in  China 
are  just  unutterable.  They  need  a  deliverer,  a  Saviour,  oh,  so  much. 
They  need  just  what  we  need  in  Christ,  and  when  we  come  to  them 
with  Jesus  He  meets  theii-  needs. 

Let  me  give  you  one  instance  in  this  connection  that  deeply  affected 
me.  I  had  a  very  intimate  friend  in  a  city  in  the  west  of  China,  a 
young  woman  of  about  my  own  age,  to  whom  I  was  very  much  at- 
tached. She  loved  the  Gospel  and  used  to  come  often  to  my  house. 
When  we  went  to  the  city  there  were  no  Christian  women  there  at  all. 
She  was  one  of  the  first  who  heard  about  Jesus,  and  she  seemed  to  be- 
lieve. She  was  a  nurse  in  the  city,  and  used  to  come  often  to  our 
house.  One  morning  she  came  as  usual  and  brought  her  mistress' 
children  and  spent  some  hours  in  the  house.  She  went  away  in  the 
middle  of  the  day.  An  hour  or  two  later  I  was  called  to  go  to  a 
woman  who  had  poisoned  herself  with  opium.  It  was  in  the  middle  of 
August,  and  intensely  hot.  We  were  led  outside  the  city  gate  to  a  little 
temple  by  the  wayside,  crowded  with  people.  There,  lying  on  the 
floor  in  the  middle  of  that  little  temple,  I  found  my  friend,  the  young 
woman  who  had  been  at  our  house  two  or  three  hours  before ;  and  I 
saw  at  a  glance  that  she  had  taken  a  very  large  quantity  of  opium,  and 
that  in  a  very  short  time  her  life  would  be  beyond  hope  unless  some- 
thing were  done.  She  did  not  want  to  take  anything ;  she  wanted  to 
die.  "Oh,  do  let  me  die,"  she  said;  "I  cannot  live,  I  will  not  live,  I 
must  die  !  "     What  was  it  ?     I  got  her  to  take  the  medicine,  and  after 


The  World's  Conquest.  59 

about  four  or  five  lioufs  she  was  saved.  Then  I  began  to  ask  what  had 
happened.  What  did  I  hear?  Just  a  story  that  you  mis^ht  hear  m  any 
Chinese  city  almost  any  da}^  in  the  week.  She  went  home  that  morn- 
ing to  her  house  and  found  her  husband  there.  He  was  a  wretched 
opium  smoker  and  gambler,  a  bad,  dissipated  man.  He  had  come  from 
the  distant  village  where  he  lived.  He  left  her  to  support  herself,  but 
he  came  that  day  to  fetch  her.  He  told  her  she  must  go  with  him,  she 
and  her  little  girl  about  five  years  old.  She  had  no  choice ;  she  was 
obliged  to  go  with  him.  Her  heart  was  full  of  fear ;  she  did  not  know 
why  she  was  going.  A  little  way  outside  the  house  where  she  lived 
she  found  out  from  him  that  she  was  to  go  back  with  him  to  their  vil- 
lage home :  he  had  sold  her  and  her  little  gu-1  to  a  man  in  the  neigh- 
boring city  to  a  life  compared  with  which  death  were  a  boon.  That 
girl  had  no  hoj)e,  no  possible  chance  of  escape ;  she  was  entirely  in  his 
hands,  and  she  and  her  child  were  just  taken  away  to  be  handed  over 
in  that  way.  The  man  stopped  at  a  little  place  to  smoke  opium,  and 
she  went  around  to  a  neighboring  shop  and  spent  all  the  money  she 
had  in  getting  enough  opium  to  kill  three  or  four  people ;  and  if  we 
hadn't  been  there  she  must  have  died.  That  will  give  you  just  the 
least  glimpse  into  the  life  of  the  people.  That  same  thing  happens 
every  day  all  over  China  in  countless  instances,  and  things  far  worse 
than  that.     They  need,  oh,  they  need  so  deeply  a  Saviour ! 

And  do  their  hearts  respond  to  the  Gospel  when  we  take  it  to  them. 
Oh,  do  they  not?  It  is  so  difiicult  to  know  what  not  to  say  when  one 
touches  upon  a  siibject  like  that.  Just  one  instance  in  closing  of  how 
the  Gospel  touches  the  hearts  of  these  people.  I  was  coming  down  the 
great  river  Han  one  time  to  the  Yang-tsze,  on  a  native  boat,  ^nth  one 
lady  companion,  and  one  night  we  stopped  by  a  large  settlement  and 
moored  the  boat  amongst  a  great  crowd  of  other  shipping.  After  sup- 
per the  women  came  to  see  us  from  the  neighboring  boats.  They  spent 
the  evening  with  us  listening  to  the  Gospel.  We  were  dressed  like 
them.  They  asked  no  questions  about  our  country  or  om-  clothes ;  they 
just  listened  to  what  we  had  to  tell  them.  There  were  four  women 
who  stayed  on  all  the  evening,  and  at  ten  o'clock  they  went  back  to 
their  own  boat  lying  beside  ours.  And  they  had  got  a  very  intelligent 
gi-asp  of  the  Gospel  in  that  time.  They  had  listened  as  we  told  it  over 
and  over  again  to  different  women  who  came  and  went,  and  they  really 
seemed  to  have  got  hold  of  the  truth  very  clearly.  We  were  so  glad 
about  it,  we  put  it  before  them  as  plainlj'^  as  we  possibly  could  and  asked 
God  to  bless  them.  They  went  back  to  then-  boat,  and  in  the  middle 
of  the  night  I  was  lying  awake  listening  to  the  quiet  miu'mur  of  the 
great  river,  and  I  heard  the  women  in  the  next  boat  presently  begin  to 
talk  to  one  another.  And  one  of  them  said,  "  We  have  heard  wonder- 
ful things  to-night;   I  hope  we  shall    not   forget.     Will  you   try   to 


60  The  World's  Conquest. 

remember  it  ?  "  And  they  talked  a  little  while  about  what  we  had  been 
telling  them,  and  then  they  were  silent.  And  after  a  little  while  I  heard 
a  little  girl  on  the  boat,  who  had  been  with  them,  begin  to  talk  to  her- 
self, as  far  as  I  could  judge.  And  she  repeated  over  to  herself  quietly 
there  in  the  middle  of  the  night  three  or  fom*  little  sentences  that  we 
had  taught  them,  that  embodied  the  truth  about  the  Gospel,  little  sen- 
tences that  they  could  easily  remember  which  we  had  taught  them, 
hoping  that  they  would  remain  in  their  minds.  And  this  young  girl  was 
sajdng  quietly  over  to  herself  in  Chinese :  "  Jesus  loves  us."  "  Jesus 
can  forgive  sin."  "  Jesus  cares  for  us  tenderly."  "  After  death  Jesus 
leads  us  to  heaven."  And  she  repeated  these  little  sentences  again  and 
again  and  again,  her  voice  just  mingling  with  the  river  as  it  swept  past  by 
the  boats  in  the  silence  of  the  night.  I  never  shall  forget  the  joy  that 
filled  my  heart.  Oh,  how  they  respond  to  the  love  of  Jesus  when  it  is 
made  known  to  them  !  How  they  just  drink  it  in  and  believe  it  in  many, 
many  places ;  and  not  a  few  become  truly  converted  to  God  who  hear 
the  Gospel  for  the  first  time  just  as  these  women  heard  it. 

Friends,  what  are  you  going  to  do  about  the  need  and  the  claims 
'of  China?  What  are  you  going  to  do  about  those  great  cities,  those 
vast  populous  plains  waiting  for  the  Gospel  ?  What  are  you  going  to 
say  to  the  living  Christ,  who  claims  you  all,  about  His  claims  for  China  ? 
If  you  want  a  sphere,  where  to  the  utmost  all  your  powers  may  be 
used  for  God,  you  could  not  have  a  nobler  sphere  than  that.  Let  me 
add  this  :  If  you  want  to  know  Him  in  the  fullness  of  His  grace  and 
power,  oh,  get  right  out  where  you  are  cast  upon  Him  alone,  where  He 
will  reveal  Himself  to  your  hearts  as  never  before.     > 

I  must  say  just  one  word  more  before  I  close.  I  had  not  been  long 
a  missionary  in  the  interior  of  China  before  I  found  out  one  thing,  and 
that  is  this :  it  is  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  for  a  missionary  to 
get  so  out  of  touch  with  the  living  Christ  that  he  loses  all  his  power. 
Dear  brothers  and  sisters,  if  God  calls  you  to  the  foreign  field,  and  you 
are  privileged  to  become  a  missionary,  you  \W11  find  this  fact  out.  I 
don't  believe  there  is  a  missionary  anywhere  in  the  world  who  has  not 
passed  through  that  experience,  who  does  not  know  what  it  is  to  be  in 
some  far  distant  heathen  city  out  of  touch  with  Christ,  cold  in  heart, 
powerless  in  the  face  of  heathenism,  hungry  and  thirsty  in  soul,  and  not 
able  to  be  of  the  least  use  to  the  people  around  them.  When  I  came 
down  from  the  interior  of  China,  after  l)eing  two  years  inland,  so  deeply 
had  that  experience  been  graven  upon  my  soul  in  the  bitterest  sorrow 
that  sometimes  I  used  to  di-ead  the  thought  ofj'going  back. f^  I  used  to 
think,  oh,  how  can  I  ever  go  back  again  and  ever  meet  that  experience 
again  of  being  out  of  communion  with  God  and  having  no  power  with 
men. 


The  World's  Conquest.  61 

And  it  was  then,  down  at  the  coast,  all  alone  in  Shanghai  in  my 
room  one  day,  that  I  came  to  see  the  real  power  of  a  missionary's 
life.  Brothers  and  sisters,  do  you  know  it,  do  you  know  it?  When  I 
realized  in  my  soul  for  the  first  time  the  wonderful  power  of  the  fullness 
of  the  Holy  Si:>irit,  the  personal,  present  Holy  Spirit  filling  one's  heart 
and  life,  I  felt  I  can  go  anywhere  now,  I  do  not  care  where  it  is ;  I 
know  Him.  I  never  knew  Him  like  this  before  ;  but  I  know  Him  now, 
and  I  am  not  afraid  to  go  back  to  the  distant,  the  most  diflficult  coast, 
because  I  know  Him  who  can  reveal  to  me  the  loving  Saviour,  and 
through  Him  I  can  go  anywhere  now.  Do  you  know  the  Holy  Spirit 
as  a  person,  a  personal  reality,  just  as  real  as  the  Lord  Jesus  Chi'ist, 
just  as  real  as  God  the  Father,  one  with  whom  you  have  to  do  in  your 
daily  life  ?  Do  you  know  what  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
is  ?  If  not,  seek  Him  now,  oh,  seek  Him  now.  Ask  Him  to  reveal 
Himself  to  you  before  He  calls  you  out  into  the  field  at  all.  Friends, 
I  can't  put  it  into  words, —  there  are  no  Avords  to  express  it, —  but  if 
you  know  Him  you  will  know  it ;  if  He  is  real  to  you,  you  will  know 
it.  He  was  not  real  to  me  when  I  went  out  to  China  in  the  sense  that 
He  is  now.  Thank  God  we  all  of  us  have  the  Holy  Spii-it  in  our 
hearts.  But  do  we  know  Him  as  a  friend  to  whom  we  can  turn  at  all 
times  to  make  the  great  realities  of  eternity  real  to  us,  to  make  impossi- 
ble thmgs  possible  to  us,  to  fill  our  own  hearts  with  Jesus,  and  fill  our 
lives  to  reveal  Jesus  to  others  ?  We  want  Him  here  at  home  just  as 
much  as  we  do  there.  Will  you,  oh,  will  you  seek  to  know  Him  more 
and  more  fully  as  you  go  on,  and  pray  for  us  that  we  may  know  Him 
more  ?  And  let  us  commit  our  lives  utterly  to  Him,  because  He  can 
make  us  sufiicient  wherever  we  are  to  show  forth  the  living  Christ  in 
all  His  gracious  saving  power. 


THIRD  DAY,  FRIDAY,  MARCH  2,  1894. 

Morning  Session. 

Rev.  Arthur  T.  Pierson,  D.D.,  led  the  devotional  service.  Mr. 
Jno.  R.  Mott  addressed  the  Convention  on, 

Three  Years  of  Progress. 

^    „,    _  It  is  taken  for  granted  by  the  Executive  Committee  that 

I,    The  Purpose  °  .      -^ 

of  the  Move-      all  the  members  of  this  Convention  are  familiar  with  the 
ment,  origin,  history,  and  progress  of  the   Student  Volunteer 

Movement  down  to  the  time  of  the  First  International  Convention, 
held  at  Cleveland  just  three  years  ago  this  week.  Before  re  vie  wing- 
its  development  for  the  last  three  years,  or  considering  its  present 
condition,  let  us  fix  clearly  in  mind  the  main  objects  of  this  Move- 
ment.    They  may  be  stated  as  follows : 

1.  To  lead  students  to  a  thorough  consideration  of  the  claims  of 
foreign  missions  upon  them  as  a  life  work. 

2.  To  foster  this  purpose,  and  to  guide  and  stimulate  such  students 
in  then*  missionary  study  and  work  until  they  j^ass  under  the  immediate 
dii'ection  of  the  missionary  societies. 

3.  To  unite  all  the  volunteers  in  a  common,  organized,  aggressive 
movement. 

4.  The  ultimate  yet  central  purpose  is  to  secure  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  volunteers,  having  the  right  qualifications,  to  meet  the  demands 
of  the  various  Mission  Boards, —  and  even  more,  if  necessary, —  in  order 
to  evangelize  the  world  in  the  present  generation. 

5.  Essentially  involved  in  all  this,  is  the  further  object  of  the 
Movement  —  to  create  and  maintain  an  intelligent,  sympathetic,  active 
interest  in  foreign  missions  among  the  students  who  are  to  remain  on 
the  home  field,  in  order  to  secure  the  strong  backing  of  this  great  en- 
terprise by  prayer  and  money. 

Such  are  the  positive  objects  of  the  Movement.  It  is  hardly  neces- 
sary, therefore,  on  the  other  hand,  to  add  that  it  is  not  an  organization 
to  send  out  missionaries.  Its  members  all  go  to  the  fields  through  the 
regular  missionary  societies.  Moreover,  the  Movement  does  not  usurp 
the  functions  of  any  other  missionary  agency;  it  simply  seeks  to  sup- 
plement heli)fully  all  existing  missionary  organizations.  That  such  is 
the  case  is  shown  by  the  increasing  number  of  indorsements  which  the 


The  World's  Conquest.  63 

Movement  has  received  from  those  missionary  secretaries  and  mission- 
aries who  are  most  familiar  with  its  work. 

„ .  , ,      This  is  a  student  movement.     The  universities,  colleges, 

II,    The  Field  .  .  '  o     ' 

anditsCul-      theological  seminaries,  medical  schools,  normal  schools, 

tivation.  training    schools  —  in    short,    all    institutions    of   higher 

learning  in  the  United  States  and  Canada,  constitute  its  field.  It 
is  true  that  individual  volunteers  are  doing  a  great  deal  of  work  in 
churches  and  in  Christian  organizations  among  young  people ;  but 
the  field  for  the  cultivation  of  Avhich  the  Movement  holds  itself  in 
a  special  sense  responsible  is  the  student  class  of  North  America.  It 
alone  among  missionary  agencies  has  complete  access  to  this  peculiarly 
important  class. 

This  Movement  was  made  possible  by  the  preparatory  work  and  in- 
fluence of  the  four  great  student  organizations  of  this  continent; 
namely,  the  Intercollegiate  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  the 
Intercollegiate  Young  Women's  Christian  Association,  the  American 
Inter- Seminary  Missionary  Alliance,  and  the  Canadian  Intercollegiate 
Missionary  Alliance.  The  Volunteer  Movement  is  an  organic  depart- 
ment of  these  agencies.  In  this  way  it  has  a  far  more  direct  and 
favorable  approach  to  the  great  body  of  students  than  it  could  possibly 
have  in  any  other  way. 

Since  the  Cleveland  Convention  the  field  has  been  cultivated  more 
thoroughly  than  during  the  early  years  of  the  history  of  the  Movement. 
This  has  been  made  possible  by  multiplying  the  agencies  of  supervision. 
The  following  constitute  the  principal  means  employed  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  field : 

1 .  The  Traveling  Secretary.  This  agency  is  the  most  potent  be- 
cause the  Traveling  Secretary  comes  in  personal  contact  Avith  the  field. 
It  has  been  employed  since  the  inception  of  the  Movement  in  1886.  The 
position  is  usually  held  for  one  year  only,  and  by  some  student  volun- 
teer who  is  nearly  ready  to  go  to  the  foreign  field,  Mr.  W.  H.  Cossum, 
of  Colgate  University,  continued  in  the  work  after  the  last  convention 
imtil  the  close  of  that  college  year,  and  then  sailed  to  China,  where  he 
is  doing  a  strong  work.  The  year  following,  Mr.  J.  C.  White,  of 
Wooster  University,  held  this  position,  and  is  now  in  India  opening  u]) 
a  promising  work  among  the  fifteen  thousand  students  at  Calcutta. 
Mr.  V.  A.  Keller,  of  Yale,  was  Traveling  Secretary  in  1893-94.  He 
devoted  a  part  of  his  time  during  the  same  year  to  ofiice  work.  He  is 
now  completing  his  studies  preparatory  to  entering  the  foreign  field. 
Mr.  D.  W.  Lyon,  of  the  McCormick  Theological  Seminary,  at  present 
occupies  the  important  post  of  Traveling  Secretary. 

2.  The  Con-esponding  Secretary  is  also  an  imjDortant  factor  in  the 
cultivation  of  the  field.     By  con'espondence  and  special  reports  he  is 


64  The  World's  Conquest. 

able  to  keep  in  touch  with  all  the  institutions  having  volunteers.  Mr. 
Walter  J.  Clark,  of  Union  Theological  Seminary,  was  the  first  man 
called  to  give  his  entire  time  to  this  work.  This  marked  one  of  the 
advanced  steps  made  possible  by  the  Cleveland  Convention.  Mr.  Clark 
filled  the  position  over  a  year,  and  then  went  to  India,  where  he  is 
already  carrying  on  a  successful  work.  During  the  few  months  which 
Mr.  Keller  succeeded  him  he  introduced  a  number  of  advanced  featiu-es 
suggested  by  his  study  of  the  Movement  in  the  colleges.  Mr.  J,  W. 
Angell,  of  Wooster  University,  rendered  special  and  helpful  assistance 
for  a  few  months.  Mr.  H.  B.  Sharman,  of  Toronto  University,  has 
been  Corresponding  Secretary  since  last  summer,  and  has  brought  the 
office  department  to  an  even  higher  state  of  efficiency. 

3.  Corresponding  Members  and  other  special  visitors  have  ren- 
dered exceedingly  valuable  service  by  visiting  colleges  or  representing 
the  Movement  at  conventions.  It  will  be  impossible  even  to  summarize 
all  of  this  work,  as  it  has  not  all  been  reported.  The  list,  however, 
should  include  among  others  the  following :  Miss  Eloise  Mayham,  who 
made  a  tour  among  the  women  of  a  number  of  colleges  of  the  North ; 
Mr.  James  Edward  Adams,  who  made  a  special  tour  among  the  colleges 
of  Iowa  and  Indiana ;  Messrs.  Horace  Tracy  Pitkin,  Sherwood  Eddy, 
and  Henry  Luce,  who  have  carried  on  a  thorough  and  extensive  visita- 
tion among  the  institutions  of  New  England,  New  York  and  New  Jer- 
sey; Messrs.  Lyon,  Tomlinson,  Mitchell,  and  Kennedy  in  Illinois;  Mr. 
Binkhorst  in  Michigan ;  Mr.  Hotton  in  Wisconsin ;  Mr.  Marshall  in 
Nebraska ;  Mr.  Strong  in  Kansas ;  Mr.  Hill  in  Kentucky ;  Dr.  Drew  in 
Virginia ;  Mr.  Kinsinger  in  Ohio ;  and  Mr.  Moore  in  Pennsylvania. 

4.  Secretaries  in  connection  with  the  college  department  of  the 
Young  Men's  and  Young  Women's  Christian  Associations  —  interna- 
tional, state,  and  metropolitan  —  have  given  a  great  deal  of  time  (in  the 
aggregate  more  than  any  other  agency)  and  thought  to  the  planting 
and  developing  of  this  Movement. 

5.  The  monthly  organ  of  the  Movement, —  The  Student  Volun- 
teer^—  although  only  recently  entering  upon  its  second  year,  has  be- 
come one  of  the  most  useful  agencies  employed  by  the  Committee  to 
keep  in  touch  with  the  volunteers,  and  to  keep  the  aims  and  methods 
and  results  of  the  Movement  before  the  Church.  The  first  suggestion 
of  such  a  paper  came  from  a  minister  in  Cleveland,  who  attended  the 
sessions  of  the  Convention ;  but  it  is  due  to  Mr.  Keller  that  the  idea 
was  carried  into  execution. 

6.  In  connection  with  the  college  students'  summer  conferences 
during  the  last  two  years,  there  has  been  developed  another  plan  for 
promoting  a  more  thorough  cultivation  of  the  field.  Missionary  insti- 
tutes designed  to  train  volunteers  for  the  leadership  of  the  missionary 
interests  of  their  respective  institutions  have  been  held.     By  this  plan 


The  World's  Conquest.  65 

men,  wlio  are  authorities  on  the  most  approved  methods  of  developing 
missionary  interest,  have  been  scattered  abroad  over  the  college  field. 

7.  The  International  Conventions  of  the  Movement,  though  very- 
infrequent,  are  destined,  if  we  may  judge  at  all  by  the  influence  of  the 
Cleveland  Convention,  to  do  incalculable  good  not  only  in  establishing 
the  Movement  in  institutions  of  learning,  but  also  in  defining  its  rela- 
tion to  the  various  missionary  activities  of  the  Church. 

Although  some  of  the  most  difficult  problems  which  con- 
III,  Problems.       fronted  the  Movement  three  years  ago  have  been  solved, 

we  are  brought  face  to  face  wdth  a  few  which  remain. 
These  can  also  be  solved  if  the  delegates  of  this  Convention  set  them- 
selves resolutely  and  prayerfully  to  the  task. 

1.  A  close  and  constant  supervision  of  all  the  volunteer  bands  of 
the  United  States  and  Canada  is  absolutely  essential  if  this  Movement 
is  to  be  a  permanent,  a  growing,  and  a  fruitful  one.  Over  the  larger 
part  of  the  field  which  has  been  entered  such  supervision  has  not  been 
maintained.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  supervising  force  has  not  < 
been  large  enough  to  cover  the  entii'e  field  in  any  given  year.  Such 
siipervision  is  rendered  necessary  by  the  constantly  and  rapidly  shifting 
character  of  the  student  population  of  our  institutions.  As  a  result  of 
our  inability  to  cultivate  the  whole  field  each  yeai',  it  has  been  neces- 
sary to  work  one  year  in  one  section  and  the  next  year  in  another.  In 
some  cases  we  have  been  obliged  to  leave  whole  groups  of  colleges  for 
as  long  as  three  years  without  a  visit.  The  natural  result  must  neces- 
sarily be  disastrous. 

2.  Closely  akin  to  the  problem  of  seeming  a  more  thorough  super- 
vision of  the  bands,  is  that  of  keeping  in  closer  touch  with  isolated 
volunteers,  and  helping  to  maintain  and  increase  their  interest.  This 
includes  that  large  class  of  volunteers  who  are  obliged  to  stay  out 
of  college  or  seminary  for  months  or  years  at  a  time,  for  financial  or 
other  reasons.  Cut  off  from  the  volunteer  band  and  the  missionarj'- 
library',  and  surrounded  often  by  influences  which  are  calculated  to 
deaden  his  interest  in  missions,  the  volunteer  is  in  great  danger  of  hav- 
ing his  missionary  purpose  weakened  and  diverted. 

3.  Another  problem  confronts  us  in  some  quarters,  and  that  is  K 
the   difficulty  of  holding  volunteers  after  they  enter  the  theological 
seminaries.     If  they  leave  college  with  a  strong  pm'pose  and  are  thor- 
oughly grounded  in  missions,  the  question  of  holding  them  does  not 
present  insuperable  difficulties.     But  even  in  such  cases  it  is  a  real 
problem  to  preserve  the  faith  and  enthusiasm  of  volunteers  who  enter 
institutions  where,  to  quote  a  prominent  Board  Secretary,  "  from  the  j 
beginning  to  the  end  of  the  course  the  whole  presumption  in  the  teach-  ) 
ing  and  attitude  of  the  faculty  is  that  the  men  are  all  going  to  stay  at 


66  The  World's  Conquest. 

home."  Add  to  this  the  constant  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  them 
by  home  churches,  and  the  solution  of  the  problem  is  not  simplified. 
In  medical  schools  the  difficulty  is  indeed  more  serious  owing  to  the 
crush  of  work,  their  absence  of  missionary,  and  often  even  of  religious 
spirit,  and  a  lack  of  strong  Christian  student  organizations. 

4.  How  to  bring  the  volunteers  into  closer  touch  -with  the  mission- 
ary societies  is  another  unsolved  question.  That  there  has  been  an 
increase  in  applications  to  the  societies  during  the  last  few  years,  taking 
them  as  a  whole,  is  ver}^  clear.  The  increase  has  been  marked  in  the 
case  of  some  denominations,  and  yet  it  is  by  no  means  what  it  should 
be  when  we  consider  the  number  of  volunteers.  The  responsibility  of 
the  Movement  does  not  cease  until  the  volunteers  are  brought  into 
direct  communication  with  their  respective  Boards.  Nor  does  it  cease 
entirely  then.     This  suggests  yet  another  difficulty. 

5.  The  financial  obstacle  is  to-day  one  of  the  greatest  in  the  path- 
way of  many  volunteers.  Within  the  last  few  weeks  several  missionary 
societies  have  indicated  to  us  that  they  have  more  men  who  want  to  go 
abroad  than  they  have  money  with  which  to  send  them.  There  are,  it 
is  true,  otlier  Boards  which  are  in  greater  need  of  men  than  of  money. 
Then,  again,  we  have  heard  that  there  are  at  least  one  or  two  Boards, 
which,  while  they  have  no  surplus  of  money,  yet  state  that  they  will 
let  the  financial  barrier  stand  in  the  way  of  no  suitable  candidates  who 
are  anxious  to  go.  But  even  where  the  financial  problem  is  the  thing 
which  prevents  volunteers  hastening  to  the  fields,  the  Movement  cannot 
free  itself  entirely  from  responsibility.  It  is  our  dut}'  as  volunteers  to 
co-operate  with  the  Missionary  Boards  in  every  way  within  our  j^ower 
in  a  determined  effort  to  remove  this  hindrance. 

It  has  been  our  purpose  in  this  connection  simply  to  state  the  most 
serious  problems  that  stand  before  the  Movement.  Our  object  has  been 
to  stimulate  thought  among  the  delegates  of  this  Convention  who,  we 
repeat,  are  in  a  position  to  do  more  towards  solving  them  than  any 
others  can  possibly  do.  Further  on  we  shall  indicate  some  lines  of 
policy  which,  properly  carried  out,  will  greatly  hasten  their  solution. 

There  are  perils  as  well  as  problems  attending  the  ad- 

IV.   Perils.  vance   of   the    Student  Volunteer  Movement.      This  is 

true  of  every  organization  which  is  new,  aggressive,  and 

full  of  life.     These  perils  should  be  clearly  apj^rehended,  and  a  united 

effort  made  by  the  volunteers  to  guard  against  them. 

In  the  beginning  notice  the  perils  with  reference  to  the  volunteer 
declaration. 

(1)  First  among  them  is  the  peril  due  to  v%%sxinder standing  the 
meaning  of  the  volunteer  declaration.  For  several  years  what  now 
corresponds  to  the   declaration  was  known   as   the  volunteer  pledge. 


The   Wokld's  Conquest.  67 

It  read :  "  I  am  willing  and  desirous,  God  permitting,  to  become  a 
foreign  missionary."  Tlie  first  traveling  secretaries  who  used  the  so- 
called  pledge  interpreted  its  meaning  in  these  words:  "I  am  fuUy^ 
determined  to  hecomc  a  foreign  missionary,  unless  God  blocks  the  \ 
way."  All  the  other  regular  secretaries  who  subsequently  employed  ' 
it,  interpreted  it  in  the  same  way.  Notwithstanding  the  clear  inter- 
pretation of  the  oflicial  representatives  of  the  jNIoveraent,  some  others 
who  used  it  unofficially  gave  it  a  different  meaning.  Moreover,  some 
who  heard  it  rightly  interpreted  were  still  confused  by  its  statement. 
After  the  Cleveland  Convention,  the  Executive  Committee,  for  a  full 
year,  carried  on  through  its  members  and  the  Traveling  Secretary  an 
examination  in  all  parts  of  the  field.  As  a  result,  thej^  reached  theX^ 
conclusion  that  the  wording  of  the  original  so-called  pledge  could  be 
changed  to  great  advantage.  Accordinglj'^,  the  members  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive Committees  of  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement  for  Foreign 
Missions,  and  of  the  newly  organized  Student  Volunteer  Missionary 
Union  of  Great  Britain,  met  at  Northfield  in  the  summer  of  1892,  and, 
after  exhaustive  discussion,  unanimously  agreed  to  change  the  wording 
from  "  I  am  willing  and  desirous,  God  permitting,  to  become  a  foreign 
missionary,"  to  "  7i(  is  my  purpose,  if  God  permit,  to  becotne  a  foreign 
misslonaryP  Moreover,  they  decided  to  abandon  the  use  of  the  ex- 
pression volunteer  pledge,  and  adopted  in  its  place  the  expression  volun- 
teer declaration.  This  change  was  made  Ijecause  the  phrase  "  If  God 
permit"  renders  it  impossible  to  characterize  the  declaration  as  a  j^ledge 
according  to  the  common  and  accurate  use  of  the  word  pledge.  A 
man  who  signs  the  volunteer  declaration  signifies  by  the  act  that,  with 
the  light  that  he  then  has,  he  forms  the  definite  and  clear-cut  decision 
that  he  will  l)e  a  foreign  missionary.  To  this  end  he  turns  his  face  in 
that  direction.  He  not  only  decides,  and  tm-ns  his  face,  but  he  begins 
to  adapt  his  course  of  study  and  special  outside  work  to  his  newly 
chosen  life  work.  He  not  only  begins  to  do  this,  but  he  continues 
steadfastly  in  that  direction.  At  the  jjroper  time  he  aj^plies  to  the 
missionary  agency  under  which  he  desires  to  go  to  the  field.  This  is 
stating  the  man  side  exclusively.  It  is  working  out  these  words  of  the 
declaration,  "  It  is  my  purpose  to  be  a  foreign  missionary."  But  there 
is  another  side  which  is  involved  in  the  words,  "  If  God  permit."  This 
phrase  precludes  the  volunteer's  taking  his  life  into  his  own  control. 
He  is  still  under  the  direction  of  God ;  for  he  will  not  become  a  foreign 
missionary  unless  God  permits.  The  Holy  Spirit  may  delay  him  may, 
turn  him  one  side,  ma}'  temporarily,  or  even  permanentl}',  block  his 
way.  While  it  may  be  true  that  some  volunteers  have  abandoned 
their  original  purpose  for  other  than  providential  reasons,  it  is  obvi- 
ously wi'ong  to  subject  volunteers  who  have  been  providentially  kept 
from  going  to  the  field  to  the  charge  of  having  broken  a  vow.     Is  it 


68  The  World's  Conquest. 

not  sinn)ly  niaiiitainiiig  that  when  a  man  signs  the  volunteer  declara- 
tion he  cannot  expect  any  further  leadings  of  the  Holy  Spirit  concern- 
ing his  life  work  ?  It  is  imjjossible  to  read  an}^  such  meaning  into  the 
volunteer  declaration.  Let  us  guard,  therefore,  against  the  peril  of 
having  the  declaration  misunderstood.  It  is  not,  on  the  one  hand, 
simply  an  expression  of  willingness  to  go  anywhere  for  Christ;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  an  iron-clad  pledge  or  vow  to  go  to  the 
foreign  field  whether  God  wants  us  there  or  not.  It  means  what  it 
says,  "  It  is  my  purpose,  if  God  permit,  to  become  a  foreign  mission- 
ary." I  begin  and  continue  steadfastly  to  carry  out  that  iJurj^ose 
foraied  in  His  presence  and  for  Ilis  glory.  If  by  walking  in  this 
path  of  duty  the  Holy  Sj^irit  leads  me  unmistakably  into  another 
path,  I  shall  leave  the  present  one  —  and  not  till  then. 

(2)  The  second  peril  in  connection  with  the  volunteer  declaration 
comes  from  the  wrong  use  of  it.  We  must  guard  against  its  use  by 
men  who  misunderstand  it,  or  who  cannot  make  its  meaning  clear. 
We  must  guard  against  its  being  used  by  those  who  for  one  reason  or 
another  are  not  in  a  position  to  understand  its  full  significance,  or  are 
obviously  unfitted  for  foreign  service.  We  must  guard  against  its 
being  used  at  the  wrong  time,  in  the  wrong  place,  or  under  An-ong 
circumstances.  All  experience  in  connection  Avith  this  Movement 
shows  that  the  declaration  should  be  used  only  under  the  manifest 
guidance  of  the  Spirit. 

Before  leaving  this  matter  of  the  declaration,  the  Committee  wish 
to  record  once  more  their  firm  belief  in  it.  The  fact  that  it  has  been 
misunderstood  at  times,  or  that  it  has  been  AVTongiy  used,  does  not 
shake  their  confidence  in  it ;  for  the  fact  still  remains  true  that  without 
it  there  could  have  been  no  Movement.  Beyond  this,  the  Committee 
believe  in  the  declaration  because  it  leads  men  to  make  a  definite  de- 
cision ;  because  it  helps  to  hold  men  who  have  decided ;  l)ecause  it  puts 
a  man  in  a  position  to  do  more  for  missions  while  he  is  securing  his 
preparation  than  he  possibly  would  or  could  do  otherwise ;  because  it 
puts  a  deeja  central  purpose  into  his  life,  Avhich  means  greater  power ; 
and  because  it  is  the  testimony  of  secretaries  and  missionaries  that  men 
who  by  this  means  were  led  to  reach  their  decision  early  are,  as  a  rule, 
more  settled  in  their  convictions,  and  better  prepared  when  the  time 
comes  to  go  abroad,  than  the  men  who  do  not  decide  until  about  the 
close  of  their  professional  course  of  study. 

2.  There  is  also  a  peril  in  connection  with  the  number  of  volun- 
teers. The  number  of  students  who  have  volunteered  at  one  time  or 
another  is  indeed  remarkably  large.  This  fact  has  often  led  members 
of  the  Movement  to  boast,  and  to  depend  more  upon  the  numbers  than 
upon  the  Holy  Spirit's  power.  This  peril  has  been  aggravated  by  an 
unwise  and  misleading  use  of  the  numbers.     Unconsciously,  our  friends 


The  World's  Coxquest.  69 

have  been  our  worst  enemies  in  tliis  respect.  How  many  noted  speak- 
ers and  editors  have  stated,  time  after  time,  that  there  are  five,  six,  or 
seven  thousand  men  and  women  in  this  Movement  who  are  ready  to 
go  to  the  field  at  once  if  the  Church  could  send  them.  This  is  not 
true.  While  there  may  have  heen  man}'  thousands  who  have  signed 
the  declaration,  the  Executive  Committee  has  within  the  last  year  de- 1/* 
cided  not  to  count  as  members  of  the  Movement  those  of  whom  it  has 
and  can  obtain  no  trace.  The  Committee  has  been  unable  to  get  ac- 
curate record  of  more  than  three  thousand  two  hundred  volunteers. 
The  large  untraced  contingent  comprises  chiefly  those  who  volunteered 
within  the  first  two  years  and  a  half  of  the  life  of  the  Movement, 
during  which  period  it  was  not  organized  and  had  no  oversight.  Quite  a 
number  have  been  lost  sight  of  since  in  sections  or  colleges  which  have 
had  little  or  no  supervision  and  band  organization.  Moreover,  it  must 
still  be  kept  in  mind,  that  a  majority  of  the  volunteers  of  whom  the 
Movement  has  record,  have  not  completed  their  course  of  study,  A 
recent  investigation  has  made  this  very  jjlain.  To  avoid  creating  fur- 
ther misunderstanding,  it  is  earnestly  recommended  that  all  friends  of 
the  Movement  in  their  statements  concerning  it,  dwell  not  so  much  on 
the  numbers  who  have  taken  the  initial  step  (unless  it  be  made  verj' 
clear  what  those  numbers  mean),  as  upon  those  facts  which  show  the 
fruitage  made  possible  by  those  who  have  made  the  decision.  In 
saying  this,  the  Committee  would  not  give  a  discouraging  impression. 
True,  there  has  been  a  shrinkage  in  the  number  who  have  volunteered, >s 
but  it  is  due  not  to  the  princiiiles  and  methods  of  the  Movement,  but 
to  a  lack  of  clear  emphasis  of  those  principles,  and  to  a  failure  to  em- 
ploy those  methods ;  and  this  is  due  in  turn  to  inadequate  supervision, 
and  also  to  the  fact,  stated  before,  that  the  Movement  was  not  organ- 
ized for  nearly  three  years.  There  has  been  very  little  shrinkage  in- 
deed among  the  men  enrolled  during  the  last  few  years, —  much  less, 
in  fact,  than  might  be  reasonably  expected.  But,  after  all,  the  greatest 
cause  for  gratitude  in  connection  with  such  a  Movement  is  not  so  much 
the  fact  that  so  many  have  enrolled,  as  the  facts  showing  what  those 
who  have  volunteered  have  achieved  under  the  Spirit  in  their  colleges, 
in  the  home  churches,  and  on  the  foreign  field. 

8.  Some  members  of  the  Movement  have  been  providentially  pre- 
vented from  going  to  the  foreign  field,  it  may  be  temporarity,  or  it  may 
be  permanently.  These  have  often  been  characterized  as  hindered  vol- 
unteers. There  is  a  decided  peril  with  reference  to  this  class.  The 
volunteer  who  considers  himself  hindered  should  be  very  sure  that  he 
has  been  hindered  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  not  bj'  friends,  or  self,  or 
sin,  or  Satan.  It  is  not  an  easy  gauntlet  that  the  volunteer  must  run 
in  order  to  get  away  from  a  land  where  he  is  needed  into  the  one  where 
he  is  needed  most.     Let  no  volunteer  mistake  the  logical  results   of 


70  The  World's  Coxquest. 

ignorance  and  indolence  for  the  staying  hand  of  God's  Spirit.  We  mean 
simply  this :  that  it  is  a  comparatively  easy  matter  for  a  man  to  regai'd 
himself  providentially  hindered  if  he  does  not  keep  adding  fuel  to  the 
missionary  flame.  In  this  connection  the  question  is  now  and  then 
asked,  Why  has  such  a  volunteer  abandoned  his  purpose  to  be  a  mis- 
sionary? A  number  of  such  persons  have  been  interviewed.  In  some 
cases  the  way  had  been  obviously  blocked  by  God.  In  all  other  cases 
the  giving  up  of  the  missionary  purpose  could  be  traced  directly  to 
neglect  on  the  part  of  the  volunteers  to  study  missions,  to  pray  for 
missions,  and  to  work  for  missions.  To  any  volunteer,  then,  who  may 
consider  himself  hindered,  we  would  say:  Be  very  careful  not  to  miss 
God's  plan.  Test  your  sincerity  most  thoroughly.  Keep  the  mission- 
ary fires  burning  by  every  possible  means.  In  addition  to  this,  apply 
to  a  missionary  society.  The  examinations  are  very  thorough.  Coun- 
sel with  the  Secretaries  about  personal  difliculties  and  doubts.  They 
will  not  let  you  make  a  mistake.  If,  after  applying  these  and  other 
tests,  the  volunteer  is  led  to  see  that  he  is  for  the  time  being  hindered, 
let  him  not  be  depressed.  Eather  than  lose  his  interest  in  the  Move- 
ment, let  him  redouble  his  efforts,  and  devote  his  life  on  the  home  field 
to  backing  up  this  mighty  missionary  enterprise  as  singly  and  earnestly 
as  he  would  have  done  had  he  been  privileged  to  hasten  to  the  front. 
Above  all,  let  him  never  wholly  abandon  the  hope  of  having  the  way 
opened  some  day  to  preach  the  Gospel  where  Christ  has  not  been 
named. 

4.  A  fourth  peril  is  seen  in  the  tendency  in  some  places  to  form 
a  breach  between  the  students  who  are  volunteers  and  those  who  are 
not.  In  a  majority  of  such  cases  the  volunteers  have  been  chiefly  re- 
sponsible. This  peril  has  already  manifested  itself  in  connection  with 
the  Movement  in  Great  Britain ;  and  we  can  do  no  better  than  to  quote 
from  the  last  report  of  their  Executive  the  following  recommendation  : 
"  That,  whilst  the  zeal  of  volunteers  be  encouraged,  care  be  taken  that 
no  tone  of  superiority  be  assumed  over  those  who  are  not  volunteers." 
The  men  who  consider  it  their  duty  to  spend  their  lives  on  the  home 
fields  have  as  much  responsibility  resting  upon  them  for  the  world's 
evangeUzation  as  those  who  go  abroad.  If  the  message  about  Jesus 
Christ  is  to  be  taken  all  over  the  earth  in  our  lifetime,  it  is  absolutely 
imperative  that  the  entire  body  of  Christian  students  of  this  gener- 
ation see  eye  to  eye  and  work  as  one  mind.  United  Ave  stand  and 
succeed ;  divided  we  fall  and  fail. 

It  is  right  that  record  be  made  of  what  the  Spirit  hath 
V.   Results.  wrought  both  in  and  through  the  Movement.     Among  a 

multitude  of  definite  things  which  have  been  accomplished, 
brief  reference  is  made  to  the  following  :  — 


The  World's  Conquest.  71 

1.  Since  the  Cleveland  Convention  the  Movement  has  been  ex- 
tended to  the  colleges  of  the  Pacific  Coast  and  of  parts  of  the  Southern 
States  ;  also  to  some  new  colleges  of  Canada.  Up  to  the  i)resent  time 
we  have  record  of  477  different  institutions  in  which  volunteers  have 
been  enrolled.  It  is  safe  to  state  that  this  Movement  has  entered  more 
institutions  than  any  other  student  organization. 

2.  Not  only  has  the  Movement  entered  the  colleges  and  profes- 
sional schools,  but  in  them  it  has  exerted  a  remarkable  influence.  Un- 
questionably it  has  deepened  the  spiritual  life  of  the  institutions.  Those 
who  have  traveled  most  among  students  bear  testimony  that  the  most 
spiritual  colleges  they  visit  are  those  which  have  been  most  intimately 
touched  by  this  Movement.  But  the  most  distinctive  influence  has 
naturall}^  been  on  missionary  lines.  In  hundi-eds  of  institutions  the 
Movement  has  reiterated  the  last  command  of  Christ ;  it  has  vividly  set 
forth  the  a^\^ul  need  of  the  world,  and  proclaimed  with  conviction  the 
responsibility  resting  upon  this  generation  of  students  for  the  evangeli- 
zation of  the  world.  The  words  "  missionary  "  and  "  missions  "  mean 
something  eutu-ely  different  to  the  student  mind  from  what  they  meant 
eight  years  ago,  even  in  a  majority  of  the  denominational  colleges  and 
divinity  schools  of  the  United  States  and  Canada.  Narrow  and  con- 
tracted ideas  are  fast  giving  way  to  new  and  enlarged  conceptions  of 
the  grandeur,  the  transcendent  possibihties,  and  the  divinity  of  this 
greatest  work  which  confronts  the  Chm*ch  of  God.  Through  the  in- 
fluence of  this  Movement,  the  missionary  department  of  the  College 
Young  Men's  and  Young  Women's  Christian  Associations  has  been 
carried  from  comparative  weakness  to  as  high  a  state  of  efiiciency  as 
that  of  any  other  department. 

3.  There  has  been  a  striking  increase  in  the  number  of  students 
who  expect  to  be  missionaries.  Take  the  j^oung  men  of  the  colleges 
for  example.  Accm-ate  reports  show  that  there  were  over  three  times 
as  many  men  in  the  colleges  last  year  who  were  expecting  to  be  foreign 
missionaries  as  there  were  in  1885-86,  the  year  before  this  Movement 
started.  If  the  comparison  were  restricted  to  that  portion  of  the  college 
field  which  has  received  most  attention  from  the  Movement,  the  increase 
in  number  of  candidates  would  have  been  over  five-fold.  In  the  light 
of  facts  covering  our  leading  seminaries,  it  is  safely  estimated  that  there 
are  now  over  fifty  per  cent,  more  theological  students  who  plan  to  be 
missionaries  than  there  were  ten  years  ago.  In  several  seminaries  the 
increase  has  been  far  greater. 

4.  The  Movement  has  inaugurated  and  is  earnestly  prosecuting  an 
educational  campaign  on  missions  among  the  colleges  and  seminaries. 
It  has  been  the  chief  factor  in  starting  a  series  of  regular  monthly  mis- 
sionary meetings  in  ai»out  two  hundred  institutions  which  did  not  have 
them  before.     Furthermore,  it  has  very  greatly  improved  the  character 


72  The  World's  Conquest. 

of  siich  meetings  in  institutions  wliere  they  were  already  being  held. 
More  important  still,  in  some  respects,  are  the  weekly  band  meetings 
for  a  systematic  and  thorough  study  of  missions.  When  this  agency 
entered  the  field  there  were  less  than  ten  such  study  groups  in  the 
United  States  and  Canada.  Now  there  are  at  least  one  hundred  and 
thirty-six.  In  connection  with  these  band  meetings  the  Movement  has 
prepared  and  introduced  several  courses  of  progressive  missionary 
studies.  These  are  being  successfully  used  by  a  larger  number  of  bands 
each  year.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  three  series  of  missionary 
Bible  studies  have  been  used  more  widely  than  all  others  combined. 
All  this  marks  a  great  advance  ;  for  over  four  years  ago  there  was  not 
in  existence  any  specially  adapted  outline  courses  of  study  for  a  mission 
band.  Another  and  a  most  fundamental  feature  of  the  educational  work 
of  the  Movement  has  been  the  planting  and  enriching  of  missionary 
libraries  in  our  institutions.  In  over  one  hundred  institutions  which 
had  practically  no  missionary  books  three  or  four  years  ago,  there  are 
now  good  working  collections.  Some  of  the  leading  theological  semi- 
naries of  the  United  States  had  no  modern  missionary  works  whatever 
until  they  were  secured  through  the  influence  of  the  volunteer  band. 
The  same  thing  is  also  true  of  a  large  number  of  the  colleges.  In  the 
aggregate,  thousands  of  dollars  worth  of  missionary  literature  has  been 
placed  within  reach  of  students  within  the  last  three  years.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  overstate  the  importance  of  the  service  the  Movement  has 
rendered  to  missions  on  these  practical  educational  lines. 

5.  At  the  Cleveland  Convention  it  was  reported  that  the  colleges 
and  seminaries  coml)ined  had  contributed  during  the  preceding  year 
about  ^15,000  to  foreign  missions  over  and  above  what  they  had  pre- 
viously given.  Under  the  influence  of  the  Movement  this  amount  has 
been  steadily  increasing,  until  last  year  the  colleges  alone  gave  over 
$25,000  more  than  they  gave  before  the  Movement  was  started.  The 
returns  from  the  seminaries  are  not  sufficiently  full  to  enable  us  to  give 
exact  figures.  It  is  a  conservative  estimate  to  say  that  the  colleges  and 
seminaries  combined  gave  to  foreign  missions  over  140,000  last  year. 
This  came  almost  entirely  from  between  eighty  and  ninety  institutions, 
which  are  each  supporting,  or  helping  to  support,  a  missionary.  This 
sum,  considered  in  itself,  does  not  mean  much  ;  but  its  influence  on  two 
lines  means  a  great  deal.  In  the  first  place,  when  churches  learn  that 
such  a  college  or  seminary  is  supporting  a  missionar}^,  it  will  lead  them 
to  see  the  possibility  of  their  doing  even  more  than  the  students.  A 
number  of  churches  have  been  influenced  to  do  this  on  learning  these 
facts  about  the  sacrifice  of  students.  A  more  im])()rtant  influence,  how- 
ever, is  that  coming  from  educating  the  students  themselves  in  habits 
of  systematic  and  jsroportionate  giving.  The  colleges  and  seminaries 
have    in  them  the  ministry  of  the  future.     They  will  not  forget  the 


The  World's  Conqup:st.  73 

object  lesson  of  the  support  of  a  missionary,  but  will  reproduce  it  in 
their  churches  and  young  people's  societies. 

6.  How  many  volunteers  have  sailed,  is  a  question  which  should 
be  answered  in  the  record  of  the  results  of  this  Movement.  We  have 
the  names  of  686  who  are  now  in  mission  lands.  In  all  probal)ility 
there  are  a  number  who  have  gone  out  that  we  know  nothing  about, 
owing  to  the  poor  reports  rendered  by  some  institutions.  It  is  a  strik- 
ing yet  natural  fact,  that  more  have  sailed  during  the  last  two  and  one- 
half  years  than  during  the  preceding  five  and  one-half  years.  It  shows 
conclusively  that  the  Movement  is  increasing  in  volume  and  momentum. 
The  question  is  often  asked  whether  the  leadei's  are  pressing  toward  the 
field.  In  answer,  it  may  be  stated  that  every  volunteer  who  has  ever 
served  as  a  member  of  the  Execiitive  Committee,  or  as  traveling  or 
corresponding  secretary,  since  the  Movement  was  organized,  is  either 
on  the  foreign  field,  or  under  appointment,  or  has  applied.  The  same 
might  be  said  of  nearly  all  the  volunteers  who  have  been  the  moving 
spirits  in  the  various  states  or  sections. 

7.  On  parallel  lines  with  its  efforts  to  secure  vohinteers  for  foreign 
service,  the  Movement  has  enlisted  the  active  interest  of  thousands  of 
students  who  are  to  remain  at  home.  Where  this  work  is  properly 
developed  each  volunteer  stands  for  more  than  one  volunteer.  He 
represents  a  number  of  his  student  friends  and  classmates  who,  because 
of  his  offering  himself  to  the  foreign  cause,  and,  better  still,  because  of 
the  reasons  which  influenced  his  decision,  will  stand  back  of  him  and 
the  missionary  enterprise  on  the  home  field.  The  honorary  secretary 
of  one  of  our  greatest  missionary  boards  voices  a  conviction  shared  by 
many  other  secretaries,  in  maintaining  that  one  of  the  things  most 
needed  now  in  order  to  make  possible  the  going  forth  of  larger  num- 
bers of  vohmteers  is  more  "  missionary  pastors, —  pastors  of  churches 
that  will  simply  do  their  duty,  that  will  lead  their  churches  in  the  way 
they  ought  to  go,  and  are  waiting  to  be  led,  some  of  them  longing  to  be 
led."  One  of  the  ambitions  of  the  Movement  is  to  help  meet  this 
fundamental  need. 

9.  While  absorbed  principally  in  cultivating  the  student  field,  the 
volunteers  have  nevertheless  made  theii*  influence  felt  in  the  churches. 
We  know  of  a  number  of  bands  the  members  of  which  have,  during  the 
past  year,  made  stirring  appeals  in  from  twenty-five  to  over  one  hun- 
dred chm-ches.  Their  work  has  been  practical  as  well,  for  often  it  has 
resulted  in  a  very  considerable  increase  in  the  amount  contributed  to 
missions.  Some  vohinteers  have  been  enabled  to  secure  pledges  cover- 
ing all  or  a  part  of  their  support  as  missionaries.  As  a  rule,  the  most 
successful  and  hopeful  work  in  the  churches  has  been  among  the  young 
people  on  educational  and  financial  lines.  The  volunteers  have  found 
this  field  to  be  peculiarly  accessible. 


V 


74  The  World's  Conquest. 

10.  In  the  report  rendered  at  the  convention  three  years  ago  it  was 
stated  that  the  committee  had  been  invited  to  send  a  representative  to 
help  introduce  and  organize  the  Movement  among  the  universities  of 
Great  Britain  and  Scandinavia ;  and  the  hope  was  expressed  that  we 
might  soon  be  enabled  to  enter  that  most  important  door.  It  is,  there- 
fore, with  special  gratitude  that  we  record  the  fact  that  Mr.  Wilder,  on 
his  way  to  India,  found  it  possible  to  spend  a  year  among  the  students 
of  these  countries,  and  to  spread  the  principles  and  methods  of  the 
Student  Volunteer  Movement.  As  a  result  largely  of  this  work,  the 
missionary  interest  of  the  British  universities  assumed  organized  form 
in  the  Student  Volunteer  Missionary  Union,  This  organization,  though 
less  than  two  years  old,  has  had  a  truly  remarkable  growth  and  in- 
fluence. 

Missionary  fires  M^ere  also  kindled  by  Mr.  Wilder  and  Mr.  Moor- 
head  in  the  universities  of  Scandinavia,  although  no  definite  inter-col- 
legiate organization  has  as  yet  been  perfected. 

A  volunteer  who  went  out  from  Wellesley  College  to  work  in  South 
Africa  has  succeeded  in  raising  up  groups  of  volunteers  in  some  of  the 
institutions  there,  and  has  united  them,  forming  a  branch  of  our 
Movement. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  measure  the  extension  of  the  influence  of 
the  Movement  through  the  hundreds  of  volunteers  who  are  touching 
the  student  life  of  scores  of  mission  lands. 

VI.  Other  Facts     We  have  reviewed  some  of  the  general  results  of  the 

Showing  the     ^qj.]^  ^f  ^be  Movement.     Its  influence  can  be  seen  also 
Inflneiice   of  i-  i      i  •  r 

the  Move-     by  looking  at  what  it  has  actually  accomplished  m  a  tew 

™'^*'  institutions,  and  by  making  a  few  contrasts.     For  obvious 

reasons  we  do  not  give  names  of  institutions,  states  or  sections. 

One  little  denominational  college,  with  less  than  seventy-five 
students,  was  touched  by  this  Movement.  At  that  time  it  had  no  for- 
eign missionary  interest  or  work  whatever.  One  man  was  led  to  vol- 
unteer. He  was  thoroughly  grounded  and  instructed  in  the  spiritual 
principles  of  the  Movement.  A  missionary  department  was  added  to 
the  religious  organization  of  the  college.  Regular  missionary  meetmgs 
were  held  which  were  regarded  as  the  strongest  and  most  popular 
meetinos  in  the  college.  Four  other  men  were  led  to  volunteer.  One 
of  the  volunteers  after  graduating  went  at  once  to  the  foreign  field,  and 
the  students  and  faculty  pay  over  |600  per  year  to  support  him.  This 
whole  development  took  place  within  two  years,  and  the  stixdents  of 
that  institution  trace  it  directly  to  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement. 
Take  a  state  university.  There  is  one  which  a  few  years  ago  had 
about  one  thousand  students.  Althoiigh  it  had  one  of  the  largest 
Christian  Associations  in  the  country,  it  had  during  a  period  of  over 


The  World's  Conquest.  75 

two  years  not  a  single  missionary  meeting ;  it  had  no  missionary  books  ; 
not  a  student  in  the  whole  iiniversity  was  expecting  to  be  a  missionary  ; 
worse  than  that,  its  long  line  of  alumni,  numbering  thousands,  included 
not  a  single  missionary ;  not  a  dollar  was  being  given  to  missions ;  the 
word  missionar}^,  to  use  Mr.  Wilder's  expression,  meant  7nise7'ere.  This 
picture  is  strictly  accurate.  The  Volunteer  Movement  entered  that 
universit}''  and  has  kept  fairly  in  touch  with  it  since.  Note  the  change. 
To-day  the  missionary  meetings  are  among  those  most  largely  attended. 
There  is  a  band  of  sixteen  students  who  expect  to  be  missionaries. 
They  arc  carrying  on  a  very  thorough  study  of  missions.  A  carefully 
selected  missionary  library  has  been  planted,  and  additions  are  made  to 
it  each  year.  Two  or  three  of  the  volunteers  have  already  sailed,  others 
have  applied,  and  at  least  one  is  under  appointment.  One  of  those  on 
the  field  is  largely  supported  by  the  students,  who  give  annually  for 
this  purpose  nearly  8500.  This  complete  change  is  due  solely  to  the 
Volunteer  Movement. 

Now  look  at  a  theological  seminar}^,  which  to-day  has  very  little  actual 
missionary  interest,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  Movement  has  been 
unable  to  touch  it  for  three  years.  During  that  time  the  volunteers 
have  graduated.  Prior  to  this  period  the  Movement  did  a  very 
thorough  work  in  the  institution.  During  the  last  year  that  the 
Movement  was  in  contact  with  that  seminary,  regular  missionary  meet- 
ings were  held  not  only  each  month,  but  also  each  week.  A  volunteer 
band  numbering  eighteen  was  making  a  special  study  of  missions.  An 
alcove  containing  the  best  missionary  literature  was  established.  The 
churches  in  the  vicinity  of  the  seminary  were  divided  up  among  the 
members  of  the  band  and  special  missionary  addresses  given  in  them. 
Over  1700  was  given  to  support  a  missionary.  That  year,  out  of  a 
graduating  class  of  seven  students,  four  sailed  before  fall  to  the 
foreign  field.  This  varied  and  fruitful  activity  was  due  almost  entirely 
to  the  Volunteer  Movement. 

It  will  be  suggestive  to  contrast  the  condition  of  the  missionary  life 
in  two  theological  seminaries  :  in  one  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement 
was  never  permitted  to  have  a  foot-hold ;  in  the  other  the  Movement 
has  for  several  years  had  right  of  way.  Their  general  situation  and 
conditions  are  practically  the  same.  Looking  at  them  apart  from  this 
Movement,  the  one  which  might  naturall}'  be  expected  to  be  the  more 
potent  in  all  foreign  missionary  work  is  the  one  which,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  is  the  weaker.  A  careful  examination  shows  that  the  only  factor 
which  enters  into  one  which  does  not  enter  into  the  other  is  the  unre- 
stricted work  of  the  Volunteer  Movement.  Keep  in  mind  that  the  one 
having  the  poorer  missionai-y  showing  is  the  larger  institution.  The 
seminary  which  does  not  favor  the  Movement  has  fourteen  men  who 
expect  to  be  missionaries,  a  majority  of  whom  became  volunteers  under 


76  The  World's  Conquest. 

the  influence  of  the  Movement  in  college  before  entering  the  seminary. 
In  the  other  seminary  there  are  nearly  fifty  volunteers.  In  one  semin- 
ary the  men  who  expect  to  be  missionaries  are  carrying  on  no  course 
of  study  on  missions.  In  the  other  the  volunteers  are  engaged  in  a 
most  thorough  and  advanced  series  of  studies.  In  one  seminary  less 
than  thirty  modern  missionary  books  are  within  reach  of  the  men ;  in 
the  other,  over  two  hundred  have  been  secured  under  the  influence  of 
the  volunteers.  One  gives  less  than  $200  per  year  to  foreign  missions ; 
the  other  gives  over  |1,000.  The  missionary  students  of  one  have 
carried  on  no  aggressive  work  for  foreign  missions  in  the  surrounding 
churches,  whereas  the  volunteers  in  the  other  have  made  thirty-eight 
important  missionary  visits  within  the  last  five  months. 

During  the  past  year  a  representative  of  the  Movement  visited  a 
number  of  denominational  colleges  which  had  never  come  under  its 
influence.  He  collected  exact  facts  about  the  missionary  status  of  each 
institution.  We  summarize  the  facts  about  eight  of  these  colleges 
which  make  the  best  missionary  showing.  In  contrast  with  these 
summaries  we  place  the  summaries  of  statistics  gathered  in  connection 
with  eight  denominational  colleges  of  the  same  rank  and  size,  and  in 
the  same  section,  which  had  been  cultivated  even  partially  by  the 
Volunteer  Movement.  In  the  eight  institutions  untouched  by  the 
Movement  there  Avere  seven  who  expected  to  be  missionaries,  and 
none  of  them  had  made  their  purpose  known.  In  the  eight  colleges 
touched  by  the  Movement  there  were  sixty-eight  volunteers  who  had 
declared  their  purpose.  In  the  first  groujj  two  of  the  eight  were  hav- 
ing regular  missionary  meetings ;  in  the  second,  all  eight  had  such 
meetings.  In  the  first  group  not  a  college  had  a  class  for  the  study  of 
missions ;  four  colleges  in  the  second  had  such  classes.  The  first 
group  gave  less  than  |90  to  missions  last  year ;  the  second  group  gave 
$460.  In  the  fii*st  group  only  one  college  had  missionary  books ;  in 
the  other,  three  colleges  had  such  collections.  The  contrast  might  be 
made  still  more  striking  in  favor  of  the  influence  of  the  Movement  if 
we  note  the  summaries  of  eight  denominational  colleges  in  a  state 
where  the  Movement  has  been  at  work  for  several  years.  Those  eight 
colleges  last  year  had  142  volunteers ;  all  of  the  eight  had  regular 
missionary  meetings ;  six  of  the  eight  had  mission  band  classes ;  six 
had  large  collections  of  modern  missionary  books ;  all  contributed  to 
missions  in  the  aggregate  $2,890. 

Another  interesting  contrast  is  afforded  by  the  state  universities. 
Let  us  take  five  of  them  which  have  received  special  attention  from  the 
Movement  for  several  years,  and  place  against  them  five  which  have 
been  practically  untouched  by  the  Movement.  The  five  which  have 
been  untouched  have  the  largest  proportion  of  Christian  students.  In 
the  five  neglected  universities  there  were  last  year  only  four  volunteers. 


The  World's  Conquest.  77 

and  three  of  them  are  due  to  the  influence  of  the  Movement  at  the 
summer  schools.  Only  one  of  the  five  had  missionar}'-  meetings.  None 
of  them  had  missionary  books.  Not  a  dollar  was  given  to  missions.  In 
the  five  universities  which  have  been  quite  frequently  visited  b}^  the 
secretary  of  the  Movement,  there  were  last  year  seventy-three  volun- 
teers. Four  of  the  five  held  strong  missionary  meetings.  All  five  had 
collections  of  missionary  books.  All  but  one  contributed  to  missions — 
$1,2.38  being  given  in  the  aggregate. 

These  comparisons  and  contrasts  might  be  multiplied  indefinitely, 
and  some  even  more  favorable  to  the  Movement  might  have  been  given. 

As  the   Executive   Committee  study  the  needs  of  this 
vn.   Policy.         Movement,  and  consider  the  unexampled   opportunities 

before  it,  they  are  led  to  outline  several  points  of  policy 
which  the  volunteers  should  seek  to  emphasize  as  never  before. 

1 .  We  should  strive  to  establish  the  Movement  more  widely  and 
firmly  in  certain  sections  and  among  certain  classes  of  students.  At 
present  the  largest  number  of  volunteers  and  highest  development  of 
missionary  interest  is  to  be  found  in  the  colleges  between  New  England 
and  Colorado,  and  north  of  the  Ohio  River.  Of  course  there  are  a  num- 
ber of  institutions  within  these  limits  which  are  greatly  lacking  in  mis- 
sionary spirit,  but  viewing  it  as  a  section  it  is  in  advance  of  any  other. 
The  colleges  of  the  South  should  receive  special  attention  during  the  -^ 
near  future.  The  missionary  record  of  certain  southern  institutions 
shows  what  splendid  possibilities  there  are  in  this  important  section. 
The  Maritime  Provinces  and  Manitoba  have  been  less  cultivated  on 
missionary  lines  than  Upper  Canada,  but  the  little  which  has  been  done 
shows  that  an  undue  proportion  of  strong  missionaries  may  be  expected 
from  these  sections.  Even  an  indirect  touching  of  the  colleges  of  the 
Pacific  Coast  has  called  forth  such  a  response  as  to  give  us  reason  to 
believe  that  special  efforts  put  forth  in  that  section  would  bring  a  rich 
fruitage.  Accurate  reports  show  that  there  has  been  a  falling  off  in  the 
missionary  interest  and  activity  in  the  institutions  of  New  England 
taken  as  a  whole,  although  there  are  still  some  very  bright  exceptions.  ( 
This  is  due  primarily  to  lack  of  supervision.  It  is  firmly  believed  that, 
Avith  wise  and  continuous  effort,  the  institutions  of  this  section,  which 
in  the  early  days  of  this  century  gave  birth  to  American  missions,  and 
later  to  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement,  will  furnish  one  of  the  largest 
contingents  for  the  foreign  field.  A  field  second  in  importance  to  none, 
and  in  the  light  of  the  actual  needs  of  the  world  possibly  more  im- 
portant just  now  than  any  other,  are  the  medical  schools  of  North 
America.  It  is  the  unmistakable  duty  of  the  Movement  to  address 
itself  at  once,  and  with  faithfulness,  to  the  cultivation  of  this  field. 
There  is  also  real  need  of  a  special  work  among  the  college  young 


78  The  World's  Conquest. 

women.  This  is  seen  at  a  glance  from  the  fact  that  not  more  than  one- 
third  of  volunteers  are  women.  This  is  not  due  to  any  lack  of  willing- 
ness on  their  part  to  offer  themselves,  because  the  list  of  missionaries 
show  that  more  M'omen  by  far  have  gone  to  the  field  than  men.  The 
small  proportion  of  young  women  is  due  chiefly  to  the  fact  that  while 
the  women  in  co-educational  institutions  have  come  largely  under  the 
influence  of  the  Movement,  those  in  the  distinctively  women's  colleges 
have  not.  If  there  could  be  a  woman  constantly  at  work  among  the 
tens  of  thousands  of  young  women  in  our  colleges  she  could  accomplish 
a  work  of  untold  importance.  To  summarize  this  point  of  j^olicy,  then, 
we  would  state  that  this  Movement  should  keep  in  mind  all  classes  of 
students  in  all  sections  of  the  student  field.  And  this  not  alone  for  the 
sake  of  the  Movement,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  deeper  spiritual  life  of 
the  institutions  themselves. 

2.  Let  us  reiterate  what  has  been  stated  and  implied  over  and  over 
again  in  this  report,  that  even  more  important  than  the  work  of  exten- 
sion is  that  of  sujDcrvision.  The  largest,  richest,  and  most  permanent 
results  have  been  found  invariably  along  the  pathway  of  constant  super- 
vision. Let  us  in  a  dee2:)er  sense  than  ever,  guard  that  Avhich  has  been 
committed  to  us.  To  this  end  we  should  increase  the  number  and 
efiiciency  of  the  agencies  of  supervision.  May  not  interested  and  in- 
fluential professors  be  found  in  our  institutions  who  will  make  the 
matter  of  foreign  missions  their  outside  specialty,  —  as  so  many  of 
them  do  with  reference  to  Bible  study  to-day,  —  and  by  their  watch- 
fulness and  special  counsel  render  an  incalculable  service  in  insuring 
the  strength  and  permanency  of  this  Movement?  Out  of  this  may 
we  not  expect  eventually,  in  many  institutions,  that  chairs  and  special 
lectureships  on  missions  will  be  established,  as  has  been  so  success- 
fully done  already  in  a  few  places?  Shall  Ave  not  plan  to  have  the 
chairmen  of  more  volunteer  bands  and  missionary  committees  attend 
the  summer  schools,  in  order  that  in  the  special  missionary  institutes 
they  may  become  better  equipped  to  lead  the  volunteer  and  missionary 
activities  of  their  respective  institutions  ?  Shall  not  more  of  the  State 
Committees  of  the  Young  Men's  and  Young  Women's  Christian  As- 
sociations co-operate  with  the  Executive  Committee  in  having  State 
Corresponding  Members  appointed  to  look  after  this  j^eculiarlj^  import- 
ant department  of  the  Associations?  Shall  not  one  of  the  achieve- 
ments of  this  Convention  be  that  the  Holy  Spirit  will  lead  us  to  make 
possible  an  enlargement  of  the  secretarial  force  of  the  Student  Volun- 
teer Movement  itself  ? 

3.  As  during  the  past,  so  in  the  future,  let  us  press  with  fullness, 
tact,  and  prayerfulness,  the  claims  of  the  unevangelized  world  upon  the 
students  of  our  generation,  and  help  to  lead  them  to  a  clear  and  glad 
decision  to  fling  their  lives  into  this  greatest  enterprise  of  the  Lord 


The  World's  Conquest.  79 

Jesus  Christ.  Our  numbers  are  large.  They  are  not  large  enough. 
Let  us  not  forget  the  words  of  a  secretai-y  of  one  of  our  greatest 
missionary  societies :  "  The  Volunteer  Movement  should  be  putting 
its  men  into  our  seminaries  by  the  hundred  and  the  thousand  every 
year."  Let  us  ring  into  the  ears  of  the  students  of  America  the  words 
of  that  splendid  volunteer,  Keith-Falconer,  who,  in  speaking  to  the 
students  of  Cambridge,  said  :  "  While  vast  continents  are  shrouded  in 
almost  utter  darkness,  and  hundreds  of  millions  suffer  the  horrors  of 
heathenism  and  Islam,  the  burden  of  proof  lies  upon  you  to  show  that 
the  circumstances  in  which  God  has  placed  you  were  meant  by  Him  to 
keep  you  out  of  the  foreign  field."  Yes,  the  world's  need  is  great.  The 
crisis  is  on.  The  time  is  short.  The  students  of  our  day  must  know 
their  duty  before  it  is  too  late.  Ours  is  the  responsibility  to  make  that 
duty  known. 

4.  Another  aim  should  be  to  make  possible  a  deeper,  more  compre- 
hensive, more  progressive,  and  more  practical  study  of  missions. 
Therefore  authorities  on  missions  should  be  invited  to  elaborate 
courses  of  study  adapted  to  the  needs  and  conditions  of  the  volun- 
teer bands.  Here  is  an  almost  uncultivated  and  a  most  fascinating 
field.  Leaders  to  guide  in  such  study  must  be  enlisted,  and,  in  many 
cases,  trained.  The  use  of  these  courses  of  study  should  not  be  limited 
to  volunteers,  but  should  be  extended  to  students  who  are  not  volun- 
teers. To  supply  the  necessary  means  or  facilities  for  careful  study  an 
effort  should  be  put  forth  to  establish  an  alcove  of  the  best  available 
missionary  literature  in  every  institution.  Each  student  delegation  at 
this  Convention  should  make  a  careful  inspection  of  The  Educational 
Exhibit  with  reference  to  greatly  improving  the  collection  of  missionary 
books  in  their  institution.  This  exhibit  is  the  most  complete  of  its  kind 
which  has  ever  been  made.  A  close  study  of  it  should  lead  within  a 
year  to  placing  modern  missionary  libraries  in  at  least  one  hundred  in- 
stitutions where  they  do  not  now  exist.  This  is  a  fundamental  condi- 
tion of  all  solid  and  growdng  and  productive  missionar}^  interest. 

5.  The  time  has  come  w^hen  the  volunteers  must  grapple  with  the 
financial  problem  with  greater  wisdom  and  persistence.  What  good 
reason  is  there  why  the  volunteer  who  takes  hold  of  this  matter  in  the 
right  manner  and  spirit  and  keeps  at  it  cannot,  before  he  sails,  increase 
the  annual  contributions  to  his  Church  Board  sufficiently  to  cover  his 
support  on  the  foreign  field  ?  What  individual  volunteers,  whom  we 
know,  have  done  in  this  direction  gives  us  confidence  to  believe  that 
hundreds  or  thousands  of  volunteers  can  do  the  same  thing.  The  pos- 
sibilities of  raising  iip  a  vast  constituency  of  new,  systematic,  and  pro- 
portionate givers  among  the  millions  of  members  of  the  various  young 
people's  movements  are  practically  limitless.  This  field  is  peculiarly 
accessible  to   students.     It  opens  up  to  them  on   every  hand,  not  only 


80  The  World's  Conquest. 

while  in  college,  but  also  during  vacations.  And  why  should  not  a 
great  many  students  who  cannot  yet  see  their  way  clear  to  offer  them- 
selves for  foreign  service  give  themselves  to  this  practical  financial  work, 
and  thus  make  possible  the  sending  of  their  classmates  as  substitutes. 

6.  The  Movement  should  seek  to  keep  in  touch  with  those  of  its 
members  who  have  sailed  and  are  at  the  front.  Every  volunteer  should 
recognize  that  his  responsibility  to  the  Movement  is  not  discharged 
when  he  sails.  If  anything,  it  is  greatly  increased,  because  the  fact 
that  he  has  sailed  immensely  increases  his  influence.  He  is  in  a  position 
to  do  far  more  for  the  Movement  than  before  he  went  abroad.  His 
counsel  concerning  its  problems  and  opportunities,  as  he  views  them 
from  the  fleld,  will  be  esi^ecially  valuable.  His  appeals  for  laborers 
will  have  an  added  force  in  the  institution  from  which  he  came  and 
wherever  his  name  is  known.  His  prayers,  stimulated  by  actual  con- 
tact with  the  awful  need  of  the  world,  will  yet  become  the  greatest 
motive  power  in  this  Movement.  And,  as  the  years  pass,  and  larger 
numbers  of  the  volunteers  return  for  a  brief  sojourn  in  their  native 
land,  they  can  and  will  stir  the  colleges  and  seminaries  as  no  other  mes- 
sengers possibly  can.  As  the  num])er  of  our  members  in  the  dark  con- 
tinents of  the  world  increases,  so  will  increase  the  clearness  and  per- 
suasiveness of  the  Macedonian  call.  We  appeal  to  the  volunteers  in 
other  countries  to  do  what  the  volunteers  of  India  have  done ;  namely, 
to  perfect  an  auxiliary  organization  of  their  members,  not  only  to  help 
each  other  in  the  great  work  to  which  they  have  given  themselves,  but 
also  to  influence  aright  the  volunteers  at  home,  and  to  aid  in  realizing 
the  central  purpose  of  the  Movement.  The  enterprise  upon  which  all 
the  volunteers  have  embarked,  whether  they  are  on  the  fleld,  in  an  in- 
stitution securing  their  preparation,  or  providentially  hindered,  is  not  a 
four,  or  seven,  or  ten  year  effort;  it  is,  if  need  be,  to  span  our  genera- 
tion. Let  us  stand  together,  no  matter  where  we  are,  until  it  is  carried 
to  a  successful  issue. 

7.  Let  us  preserve  a  close  union  with  the  Student  Volunteer  Mis- 
sionary Union  of  Great  Britain.  Although  their  organization  is  com- 
paratively young,  it  has  made  a  most  remarkable  progress  ;  and  a  close 
study  of  its  life  and  working  would  abound  in  suggestion  and  inspira- 
tion to  the  American  volunteer.  This  movement  and  our  own  have,  as 
a  common  rallying  point,  the  same  declaration,  and,  as  a  common  in- 
spiration, the  same  watch-cry.  For  the  first  time  the  students  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  world  are  united  in  a  mighty  enterprise.  Made  one  by 
the  Holy  Spirit  of  Missions,  who  can  measure  the  power  of  this  Chris- 
tian federation  for  a  world's  evangelization  ?  With  deep  sincerity  and 
gratitude  we  welcome  to  our  convention  and  institutions  Mr.  Donald 
Fraser,  the  Traveling  Secretary  of  the  British  Movement,  who  comes 
to  us  as  their  fraternal  delegate. 


The  World's  Conquest.  81 

8.  Let  us  keep  to  the  front  and  ever  before  us  as  our  hope  and 
inspiration,  the  watch-cry  of  the  Movement,  The  Evangelization  of  the 

Worldin  this  Generation.  This  idea  has  passed  from  the  region  of 
mere  conjecture  into  the  realm  of  the  actual  faith  and  convictions  of  a 
rapidly  increasing  number  of  men  and  women.  The  Student  Volunteer 
Movement  stands  pre-eminently  for  the  emphasis  of  the  belief  that,  by 
an  enlargement  of  the  agencies  employed  by  the  missionary  societies  to- 
da}',  the  Gospel  can  and  should  be  fully  preached  to  every  creature 
during  this  generation.  The  Volunteers  believe  that  this  is  an  absolute 
necessity,  because  without  it  millions  will  perish.  They  believe  it  is 
a  duty,  because  Christ  has  demanded  it.  They  believe  it  is  a  privilege, 
because  it  will  hasten  the  appearing  of  Jesus  Christ.  They  believe  it 
is  a  possibility,  because  of  what  the  early  Christian  Church  achieved 
under  far  more  adverse  circumstances  than  those  which  confront  the 
Church  of  the  nineteenth  century.  When  this  idea  is  firmly  anchored 
in  the  consciousness  of  this  Movement,  it  will  give  it  an  irresistible 
power. 

9.  As  this  Movement  advances  in  years,  in  numbers,  and  in 
influence,  there  is  need  of  recognizing  with  increasing  faithfulness  our 
absolute  dependence  upon  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  furnished  its  kindling 
spark  at  Mt.  Hermon,  and  lighted  its  fires  all  over  the  North  American 
student  field.  He  called  its  secretaries  and  sent  them  up  and  down  the 
land  with  a  power  not  their  own  —  touching,  and  deepening,  and  en- 
riching the  lives  and  purposes  of  thousands  of  students.  From  Him 
the  generous  gifts  of  money  came  which  made  possible  such  far  reach- 
ing achievements.  He  spoke  to  the  volunteers  with  that  voice  which 
His  sheep  always  know,  for  a  stranger  they  will  not  follow.  He  it  is 
that  must  energize  them  and  thrust  them  forth.  It  is  He  who  will  give 
them  enduring  fruits.  He  inspired  our  watch-cry,  and  He  alone  can 
and  will  enable  us  to  carry  it  to  a  full  realization. 


vm.  What  the     To  carry  out  with  thoroughness  these  far-reaching  aims. 
Move 
Needs 


Movement     ^^^  ^^  realize  in  any  measure  the  possibilities  wrapped 


up  in  this  Movement,  it  must  have  the  unreserved  co- 
operation of  its  members  and  friends. 

1.  It  needs  their  intelligent  and  sympathetic  counsel.  The  expe- 
rience and  convictions  of  secretaries  and  missionaries,  in  particular,  will 
do  much  to  confirm  and  guide  the  volunteers. 

2.  Money  is  needed  in  order  to  enable  the  Executive  Committee 
to  enter  doors  of  unparalleled  opportunity  which  ojjen  on  every  hand. 
From  its  inception  God  has  never  let  this  Movement  suffer  for  want  of 
money.  He  always  increased  the  number  of  contributors  to  keep  pace 
with  its  steady  expansion.  At  least  86,000  a  year  are  needed  during 
the  next  three  vears. 


82  The  World's  Conquest. 

3.  There  is  need  of  an  unwavering  and  enthusiastic  belief  on  the 
part  of  each  vohinteer  in  the  providential  origin  of  this  Movement,  its 
deep  Scriptural  basis,  and  its  God-given  purpose.  Such  a  confidence 
will  inspire  a  larger  enterprise,  a  deeper  sacrifice,  a  sublimer  heroism,  a 
more  Christ-like  obedience.  This  faith,  indeed,  must  necessarily  be  the 
victory  which  overcomes  the  world. 

4.  Beyond  all  else,  the  deepest  need  of  the  Volunteer  Movement 
is  definite,  united,  importunate  prayer.  This  is  imperative  in  order 
that  volunteers  may  be  recruited,  not  b}^  men,  but  by  God  Himself, 
Prayer  is  needed  still  more  during  the  long  years  of  preparation,  that 
the  volunteer  having  put  his  hand  to  the  plow  may  keep  it  there,  and 
that  he  may  be  possessed  bj^  the  Holy  Spirit.  Even  then  the  thousands 
of  students  who  have  thus  given  themselves  to  this  work  will  never 
reach  the  great  harvest  fields  of  the  world  until  there  is  a  more  absolute 
compliance  with  that  wonderful  condition  laid  down  by  Jesus  Christ, 
"  Pray  ye,  therefore,  the  Lord  of  the  harvest,  that  He  send  forth  laborers 
into  His  harvest."  This  has  been  strikingly  illustrated  at  times  in  the 
history  of  the  great  Church  Missionary  Society  of  England.  At  one 
time  in  1872,  it  is  said,  "a  day  was  spent  in  prayer  offered  distinctly 
and  definitely  for  more  men.  It  was  followed  by  more  offers  for  service 
than  had  ever  been  received.  In  the  five  years  following  it  sent  out 
one  hundred  and  twelve  men,  whereas  in  the  five  years  preceding  it  had 
sent  out  fifty-one  men.  Again,  in  the  latter  part  of  1884,  men  were 
sorely  needed;  and  a  day  was  appointed  to  pray  for  them.  The  pre- 
vious evening  Mr.  Wigram  was  summoned  to  Cambridge  to  see  a 
number  of  gradxiates  and  under-graduates  who  desired  to  dedicate 
themselves  to  the  Lord's  work  abroad.  More  than  one  hundred  uni- 
versity men  met  him,  and  he  returned  to  the  prayer  meeting  next  day 
to  prove  to  his  colleagues  the  promise,  '  Before  they  call  I  will  answer.'  " 
With  dee]^  conviction  we  reiterate,  here  lies  at  once  our  greatest  need, 
our  most  solemn  duty,  and  our  most  inspiring  opportunity.  "  Lord 
teach  us  to  pray." 

"  Lord,  it  is  nothing  with  Thee  to  heljD,  whether  with  many,  or  with 
them  that  have  no  power.  Llelp  us,  O  Lord,  our  God;  for  we  rest  on 
Thee,  and  in  thy  name  we  go  against  this  multitude." 

John  R.  Mott, 
James  Edward  Adams, 
Miss  Effie  K,  Price, 

Executive  Cotninittee. 


The  World's  Conquest.  83 

TlIK    OuKilN    OF    TIIK    BrITISH    MOVEMENT. 

Mr.  Donald  Fraser,  Secretary  of  the  Student  Volunteer  Missionary- 
Union  of  Great  Britain,  said  :  — 

I  bring  to  you,  fellow  volunteers,  the  greeting  of  the  seven  hundred 
volunteers  in  the  British  colleges.  When  I  stood  here  on  Wednesday 
night,  and  saw  for  the  first  time  this  enormous  meeting,  I  felt  over- 
whelmed, recognizing  as  I  did  that  this  is  not  all,  that  you  are  simply 
the  representatives  of  a  far  greater  crowd ;  and  I  thought  I  saw  among 
you  sufficient  leverage  power  to  overturn  the  whole  world,  if  all  the 
volunteers  here  go  forth  in  the  omnipotence  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  I 
hope  that  every  one  of  us  shall  go  forth  to  our  colleges  from  this 
Conference  with  a  new,  divinely  inspired,  and  united  missionary  en- 
thusiasm, which  will  be  as  a  great  resurrection  trumpet  blast  to  waken 
many  of  the  colleges  from  the  deadness  of  indifference  to  a  new  and 
quickened  missionary  life.  While  T  listened  to  Mr.  Mott  reading  your 
report,  I  thought  it  might  also  be  the  report  given  at  our  own  con- 
ference :  your  plan  of  working  and  the  problems  which  face  you  are 
almost  exactly  the  same  as  ours.  And  so  I  thought  that,  as  you  are 
not  exactly  acquainted  with  the  peculiar  phases  of  our  work,  and  the 
points  in  which  they  differ  from  you,  that  perhaps  the  most  useful 
thing  I  could  do  this  morning  would  be  to  sketch  to  you  the  origin 
and  growth  of  the  Volunteer  Movement  in  Great  Britain. 

At  the  very  outset  one  must  preface  one's  remarks  by  pointing  out 
the  peculiar  phase  of  college  life  in  Great  Britain.  One  college  is 
absolutely  unconnected  wdth  any  other.  Each  college  is  centered  in 
itself,  and  only  influenced  by  its  own  life.  And  hence,  though  a  great 
revolution  may  be  going  on  in  the  one  college,  stirring  up  the  men  and 
exciting  their  minds  and  unfitting  them  for  all  else,  its  neighboring 
college,  perhaps  not  more  than  an  hour  or  two's  journey  from  it,  will 
be  moving  along  with  no  deeper  interest  than  that  of  musty  classics 
and  abstruse  philosophy.  So  you  plainly  see  we  have  no  opportunity 
of  having  a  great  national  movement  among  the  colleges.  One  must 
remember,  too,  that  for  many  years  there  has  been  a  missionary  section 
in  the  colleges, —  and  by  that  I  mean  more  or  less  interest  in  foreign 
missions, —  and  many  of  the  students  have  been  dedicated  to  foreign 
missionary  work.  But  this  section  was  alwaj-s  a  variable  and  uncer- 
tain quantity,  de])ending  very  largely  on  one  man  in  the  college,  and 
never  influencing  any  other  college. 

Yet  we  have  had  our  epochs,  and  you  will  all  know  the  great  epoch 
in  our  religious  history,  when  the  Cambridge  Band  went  through  the 
universities.  You  will  remember  how  seven  men  dedicated  their  lives 
to  foreign  missionary  work,  and  their  two  leaders,  Stanley  Smith  and 
Charles  Studd,  went  through  a  number  of  the  universities,  appealing 


84  The  World's  Conquest. 

for  volunteers  for  the  foreign  field.  Wherever  tliey  went  they  were 
followed  by  a  wonderful  outburst  of  missionary  enthusiasm.  Men  who 
had  been  living  carelessly  in  sin  before  were  brought  face  to  face  with 
Jesus  Christ ;  and  scores  of  men  were  led  to  dedicate  themselves  to 
foreign  missionary  work.  It  was  a  mistake,  which  I  fancy  is  prevalent 
in  the  Volunteer  Movement  in  America,  to  fancy  that  this  work  of 
Stanley  Smith  and  Studd  had  no  permanent  result.  We  have  in  the 
Christian  Unions  in  the  universities  of  England  to-day  a  permanent  re- 
sult of  this  remarkable  movement,  although  we  are  unable  tangibly  to 
trace  the  foreign  mission  result,  since  we  cannot  count  the  number  of 
men  who  have  been  led  to  go  out  to  the  foreign  field. 

In  1886-7  Mr.  John  Forman,  one  of  your  leaders,  came  across  to 
the  British  colleges  to  bring  us  in  touch  with  the  missionary  movement 
in  America.  He  went  through  a  number  of  universities,  quietly  doing 
far  greater  work  than  he  ever  dreamed  of.  I  will  give  you  one  instance 
of  what  was  accomplished  by  him.  In  a  little  university  college  in 
Wales  he  spoke  once  or  twice,  and  left  with  an  oppressed  feeling  that 
he  had  almost  failed,  because  not  a  single  man  came  forward  and  vol- 
unteered for  the  foreign  field.  Two  or  three  days  after  he  left,  four 
men  were  sitting  in  one  of  their  rooms  smoking  and  discussing  Mr. 
Forman.  They  were  quite  unanimous  in  their  opinion  that  Mr.  Forman 
had  done  quite  the  right  thing  in  going  to  India,  because  he  was  born 
there;  and  they  thought  that  as  they  were  born  in  Wales,  they  had  done 
the  right  thing  to  stay  in  Wales.  Then  they  began,  for  the  sake  of 
argument,  to  discuss  foreign  missions.  They  discussed  until  a  very  late 
hour,  and  then  went  to  their  rooms  and  spent  a  restless  night  with  their 
consciences.  Each  one  of  the  four  men  that  week,  without  further 
conference  with  any  one  else,  dedicated  himself  to  foreign  missionary 
work.  Three  of  them  to-day  are  in  China,  and  the  fourth  is  under 
appointment  to  India.  And  these  four  men  were  led  through  Mr. 
Forman  to  dedicate  themselves  to  foreign  missions. 

A  year  or  tAvo  after  Mr.  Forman's  visit,  and  partly  through  his  ad- 
vice, we  did  try  to  unite  the  foreign  missionary  element  in  the  different 
colleges,  and  formed  the  Students'  Foreign  Missionary  Union ;  but 
because  it  had  no  agressive  purpose  it  had  merely  a  nominal  life. 
The  great  genesis  of  our  Movement  was  Mr.  Robert  P.  Wilder's 
visit  in  1891  to  the  British  colleges.  In  God's  great  providence 
he  went  to  the  convention  at  Keswick,  and  that  year  was  the  first  year 
when  there  was  a  representation  of  the  British  students  at  this  conven- 
tion. We  didn't  know  much  about  your  Movement  or  about  Mr.  Wilder, 
but  we  heard  him  in  a  twelve  minute  address  describe  the  Movement 
in  America.  And  some  of  us  from  Glasgow,  who  were  standing  up  be- 
hind the  platform,  had  for  the  first  time  the  fact  impressed  upon  us 
that  there  was  no  time   when   we  would   have    so   large  a  sphere  of 


The  World's  Conqukst,  85 

influence  as  during  our  college  clays,  and  that  if  we  were  missionary  can- 
didates it  was  our  duty  to  create  the  missionary  atmosphere  in  our 
college.  We  three,  at  least,  were  most  profoundly  impressed ;  and  that 
afternoon,  before  God,  we  confessed  our  past  slackness,  and  vowed  we 
would  use  ever}'  opportunity  to  tell  the  men  of  the  neglected  state  of 
the  world,  and  bring  them  face  to  face  with  heathendom.  One  of  the 
three  was  in  his  last  year  at  college,  and  when  he  went  back  to  college 
that  session  he  simply  upturned  the  whole  college,  and  there  was  not  a 
man  in  it  but  was  brought  face  to  face  with  his  individual  responsibil- 
ity to  the  foreign  field.  Mr.  Wilder  visited  Glasgow,  Edinburgh,  Cam- 
bridge, and  London,  and  wherever  he  went  he  stirred  up  an  extraordi- 
nary enthusiasm  for  foreign  missions.  He  then  pointed  out  to  us  the 
need  for  organization,  if  there  was  to  be  permanence.  And,  at  a  meet- 
ing in  Edinburgh,  when  delegates  wei-e  present  from  eighteen  univer- 
sities, representing  about  three  hundred  volunteers,  we  organized  the 
Students'  Volunteer  Missionary  Union,  with,  as  its  basis,  your  old  dec- 
laration :  "  We  are  willing  and  desirous,  God  permitting,  to  become 
foreign  missionaries."  We  appointed  a  managing  executive  committee 
of  four  :  one  from  Scotland,  one  from  England  and  Wales,  one  from 
London,  and  one  from  Ireland.  We  also  engaged  one  of  the  Cambridge 
Seven,  Mr.  Polhill-Turner,  who  was  at  home  on  a  furlough,  as 
Traveling  Secretary-,  and  to  start  an  official  organ  for  student  volunteers. 
After  a  year's  work,  when  Mr.  Polhill-Turner  went  through  the  col- 
leges, we  were  able  to  count  up  five  hundred  volunteers.  Last  year  in 
Jul}'^  we  had  our  first  conference  at  Keswick,  when  one  hundred  or 
more  men  were  present.  That  conference  will  ever  be  memorable  for 
the  solemn  and  stirring  impressions  we  received  and  for  the  solemn 
association  it  has  with  Bishop  Hill.  He  was  among  us  as  our  central 
spirit,  entering  into  the  discussions  of  our  meetings.  Last  December 
he  went  out  to  Africa,  and  before  he  had  reached  his  field  we  learned 
of  the  death  of  the  bishop  and  his  wife  and  three  of  the  party. 

From  Keswick  we  have  been  going  on  quietly  and  steadily,  solidify- 
ing our  Movement  into  one  compact  whole.  But  you  must  remember 
that  we  have  a  very  much  smaller  student  jDopulation  than  you,  to  whom 
to  appeal.  I  reckon  a  very  high  estimate  when  I  say  that  we  have 
reached  some  thirty  thousand  students,  and  out  of  these  thirty  thousand 
at  least  seven  hundred  have  volunteered  for  the  foreign  field.  We 
have  not  been  blessed  like  you  with  very  remarkable  leaders  at  the  start. 
Our  Movement  has  more  been  carried  on  by  commonplace  men  among 
commonplace  men.  And  the  result  is  that  it  has  grown,  not  from  the 
efforts  of  one  or  two,  but  through  the  efforts  of  every  volunteer.  We 
have  had  it  impressed  upon  us  that  every  volunteer  has  also  to  become 
a  recruiting  sergeant,  every  man  has  to  try  and  influence  his  companion 
in   college  in   the   direction   of   the    foreign    field.     In    this   way   our 


86  The  World's  Conquest. 

Movement  has  taken  a  very  solid  form,  and  we  have  an  unusually  large 
proportion  of  men  going  out  to  the  foreign  field  when  their  course  is 
over.  When  I  left  Great  Britain  we  had  not  got  the  statistics  in,  but, 
judging  from  one  or  two  colleges  with  which  I  am  more  intimately 
acquainted,  I  should  say  that  of  the  men  who  have  finished  theii-  prejj- 
aration  —  I  don't  mean  simply  their  college  course,  for  many  after  the 
college  course  take  a  year  or  two  at  Maidstone,  and  Church  of  England 
men  take  a  year  or  two  of  curacy  before  they  go  —  eighty  to  ninety 
per  cent,  of  them  have  sailed  to  the  foreign  field.  You  see  at  once 
how  that  has  created  the  greatest  confidence  in  the  Union. 

Our  Union  has  grown  slowly  but  steadily,  and  we  have  been  taught 
by  experience  to  use  the  declaration  very  carefully;  hence  we  have 
been  saved  from  some  difficulties  which  your  Movement  is  facing  to-day. 
We  never  allow  the  declaration  form  to  be  passed  around  in  meeting, 
especially  after  there  has  been  some  excitement  and  enthusiasm.  We 
want  no  hasty  decisions.  We  want  men  to  face  the  question  on  their 
knees  before  God,  to  weigh  all  sides  of  the  question  before  they  make 
up  their  mind.  Let  me  just  give  you  an  example.  In  a  village  in 
Wales,  at  which  I  was  in  October,  we  had  a  remarkable  meeting,  and 
the  men  were  stirred  to  the  very  depths.  After  the  meeting  was  over, 
going  to  some  of  their  rooms  I  found  a  whole  college  gathered  together, 
and  every  man  was  asserting  that  he  was  ready  to  sign  the  declaration 
and  volunteer  for  the  foreign  field  —  a  whole  college  ready  to  volun- 
teer !  But,  as  it  was  evident  there  was  a  good  deal  of  excitement  in  the 
air,  after  consultation  with  the  secretary,  we  agreed  that  we  would  not 
allow  any  to  sign  the  declaration  that  night,  but  we  advised  them  to 
meet  for  a  few  days  in  prayer  daily,  and  consult  among  themselves  and 
with  God  as  to  what  they  should  do  with  their  lives.  For  weeks  after 
that  whole  college  met  for  daily  prayer,  and  I  received  word  that,  one 
by  one,  they  are  signing  the  declaration,  and  I  believe  they  mean  to 
keep  it. 

Let  me  say  then  that  we  have  got  our  Union  on  to  a  very  solid 
basis,  and,  we  must  frankly  confess,  through  the  advice  and  through 
the  history  of  your  unions.  We  hope  we  shall  be  saved  many  of 
the  mistakes  you  have  committed  from  lack  of  organization,  because 
from  the  very  start  our  Union  is  organized ;  and  also  because  our  con- 
stituency is  so  small  we  can  hold  it  pretty  well  in  hand  and  once  every 
year  visit  every  branch  in  the  country.  We  have  also  attained  to  an 
unusual  position  of  respect  and  influence  and  aggressive  work  in  the 
colleges ;  so  much  so  that  in  some  colleges  the  meetings  of  the  Union 
are  the  best  attended  of  any,  and  the  Union  is  the  most  influential  so- 
ciety in  the  whole  college.  And  we  have  taken  hold  of  the  very  best 
men  in  the  college.  In  my  own  college,  and  in  my  own  j^ear,  out  of 
the  five  honors  men,  four  are  volunteers  and  one  is  almost  a  volunteer. 


Thk  World's  Conquest.  87 

In  another  college,  the  Secretary  of  the  Union  is  Captain  of  the 
College  Foot-ball  Club  and  Chairman  of  the  College  Debating  Society? 
—  in  other  words,  the  head  of  the  athletic  and  social  world  in  the 
college.  The  result  is  that  we  at  once  command  the  respect  and 
confidence  of  the  men,  and  the  Union  does  not  require  to  make  an 
apology  for  its  existence.  And  also  we  have  one  pleasing  feature  — 
the  breadth  of  the  movement.  It  is  not  confined  to  any  one  school 
of  thought.  We  embrace  not  only  the  most  earnest  workers,  but  the 
deepest  thinkers ;  and,  while  keen  theological  controversy  may  raid 
outside  our  ranks,  we  combine  in  our  ranks  men  of  all  schools  of 
thought,  provided  they  have  got  one  heartfelt  devotion  to  Jesus  Christ 
and  an  enthusiasm  to  bring  Christ  to  the  world. 

Mr.  D.  Willard  Lyon,  Traveling  Secretary  of  the  Student  Volun- 
teer Movement,  said :  — 

The  Significance  and  Work  of  the  Volunteer  Band. 

What  I  have  to  say  applies  to  all  classes  of  institutions :  first, 
where  there  is  alread}'  a  Volunteer  Band;  secondly,  to  institutions 
where  there  are  already  as  many  as  two  volunteers.  I  hope  what  I  say 
will  result  in  the  organization  of  such  a  Band  in  all  the  institutions  of 
this  latter  class.  Perhaps  I  might  begin  by  giving  you  a  few  reasons 
for  organization  :  In  every  institution  where  there  are  amy  volunteers, 
if  there  be  as  manj^  as  two,  a  Volunteer  Band  should  be  organized ; 
first  for  the  sake  of  mutual  stimulus.  While  isolated  volunteers  are 
able  to  some  extent  to  gather  together  missionary  knowledge,  yet  the 
experience  of  the  Volunteer  Bands  and  the  experience  of  the  isolated 
volunteers,  in  the  last  few  years,  have  proven  that  where  the  Bands 
exist,  a  great  deal  more  is  done  along  the  line  of  missionary  study. 
Thirdly,  for  the  sake  of  deepening  missionary  conviction.  We  need 
to  have  our  missionary  convictions  grounded  on  a  solid  basis,  and  only 
by  uniting  thus  as  volunteers  and  coming  in  conference  with  one 
another  to  discuss  the  reasons  for  preaching  the  Gospel  everywhere, 
can  we  have  our  convictions  deepened  and  strengthened.  Fourthly, 
for  the  purpose  of  making  ourselves  more  efficient  in  advancing  the 
cause  of  missions  while  we  are  at  home.  We  as  volunteers  have  a  re- 
sponsibilit}"  in  our  own  institutions  ;  we  have  a  responsibility  with  refer- 
ence to  the  Church.  We  must  be  doing  something  towards  spreading 
the  cause  of  missions  in  this  country ;  and  how  better  can  we  do  it  than 
Ijy  uniting?  Lastlj^  for  the  sake  of  an  increased  power  with  God, 
claiming  that  promise  that  when  two  of  us  shall  agree  on  earth  as  touch- 
ing anything  we  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  given  us  of  the  Father.  United 
we  shall  plead  with  God  for  great  things  and  shall  receive  of  God  what 


88  The  World's  Conquest. 

we  plead  for.  1  hope  there  will  not  go  from  this  Convention  a  single 
delegation  representing  a  college  where  at  present  there  is  no  existing 
Volunteer  Band,  without  organizing  such  a  Band  as  soon  as  they  reach 
the  college. 

What  are  the  duties  implied  in  the  Volunteer  Band?  They  lie 
along  several  lines, 

1.  The  Volunteer  Band  owes  something  to  the  volunteers  in  the 
institution  who  in  the  first  place  must  be  informed  with  reference  to  mis- 
sions ;  in  the  second  place,  they  must  be  taught  the  biblical  principles  of 
missions  ;  in  the  third  place,  they  also  must  be  stimulated  to  prepare 
themselves  for  efficient  service  in  the  field  ;  and  in  the  fourth  place, 
the  Band  should  strive  to  remove  the  man-made  obstacles  that  stand 
in  the  way  of  some  volunteers.  The  Band  exists  then  for  these  four 
things,  as  it  stands  in  relation  to  volunteers  in  college. 

2.  But  there  are  volunteers  out  of  college  ;  what  can  be  done  for 
them  ?  Here  is  a  volunteer  preaching  ;  here  is  a  volunteer  teaching  ; 
here  is  another  in  business.  Many  of  them  have  not  lost  their  interest 
in  missionary  work  ;  they  still  believe  in  the  principles  which  brought 
them  to  sign  the  volunteer  declaration.  Shall  not  the  Vohmteer  Band 
find  its  great  opportunity  here  by  coming  into  touch  with  these  absent 
volunteers  through  correspondence  —  not  a  formal  correspondence  for 
statistics  merely,  but  a  correspondence  with  a  touch  of  the  life  from 
above  in  it,  and  which  shall  result  in  the  hastening  forth  of  these 
outside  volunteers  to  the  foreign  field  ? 

3.  The  Volunteer  Band  has  an  obligation  also  to  itself.  The 
Traveling  Secretary  can  only  touch  one-fourth  of  the  institutions  of  the 
country  at  most.  The  volunteers  are  sprinkled  in  almost  all  the  insti- 
tutions ;  they  can  reach  the  whole  field.  More  than  that,  the  Traveling 
Secretary  only  stays  a  day  or  two  in  a  place  ;  he  has  not  the  opportu- 
nity to  study  all  the  conditions  of  the  volunteer  life.  You  live  side  by 
side  with  these  men  and  women  for  the  whole  college  year,  for  several 
years  may  be,  and  you  know  what  their  difficulties  are  ;  you  know  how 
to  pray  for  them  intelligently ;  you  alone  have  the  opportunity  of  per- 
petuating the  Band. 

4.  The  Band  holds  another  relation  to  the  students  in  colleges  who 
are  not  volunteers.  In  every  educational  institution  there  are  men 
with  keen,  alert,  vigorous  minds.  What  class  of  men  could  be  more 
receptive  to  the  divine  idea  of  missions !  Why  shouldn't  each  member 
of  the  Volunteer  Band  be  an  instrument  for  "  overturning  the  colleges," 
as  Mr.  Fraser  expressed  it,  in  giving  them  a  distinctively  missionary 
character  ? 

5.  The  Band  also  holds  a  relation  to  the  Volunteer  Movement 
itself.  In  order  to  make  this  Movement  mean  what  it  should  mean, 
the  Bands  must  be  faithful  in  sending  in  their  reports.      Not  only  so. 


The   World's  Conquest.  89 

but  are  they  upholding  it  by  daily  prayer  ?     Are  they  helping  to  sup- 
port it  financially?     Are  not  these  essential  points  of  their  work? 

6.  Again,  we  might  also  see  another  relation  :  the  Volunteer 
Band  has  a  duty  toward  the  Church.  ^Ve,  as  young  people,  can  appeal 
to  these  churches  along  the  line  of  missionary  giving,  because  we  with 
God's  approval  can  say,  "  Send  us,"  whereas  others  perhaps  can  only 
say,  "  Send  them." 

7.  The  Lord  of  the  harvest  has  said,  "  Pray  ye."  We  know  full 
well  that  if  we  should  lose  the  spirit  of  prayer  our  work  would  languish 
and  die.  Let  us,  then,  volunteers,  take  to  heart  Neesima's  inspiring 
watchword,  "  Let  us  advance  upon  our  knees." 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  character  of  the  Volunteer  i:5and  meeting. 
What  can  be  done  in  the  Band  meeting  ?  Just  a  word  about  the  fre- 
quency of  the  meeting.  These  meetings,  according  to  the  experience 
of  a  large  number  of  institutions  with  which  we  have  come  in  contact, 
should  be  held  frequently  enough  to  enlist  a  wide  interest,  and  yet  not 
too  frequently  to  prevent  thorough  work.  Most  institutions  are  able  to 
have  the  Bands  meet  once  a  week.  In  some  of  the  small  institutions, 
where  the  volunteers  are  few,  the  meetings  would  better  come  once  in 
two  weeks.  What  are  the  courses  of  study  that  can  be  carried  on  by 
these  Bands  ?  Studies  of  mission  fields,  of  Biblical  lessons  on  Missions, 
and  of  Practical  Preparation.  And  we  should  prepare  these  studies 
with  the  same  thoroughness  that  we  exercise  for  class-room  Avork. 
There  are  two  courses  of  ten  lessons  by  Mr.  J.  Campbell  White, 
which  were  used  last  summer  at  the  Xorthfield  and  Geneva  Conven- 
tions. You  will  all  realize  that  these  practical  studies  which  have  been 
suggested  will  be  thoroughly  practical  when  I  remind  you  that  Mr. 
Beach  is  the  man  that  prepared  the  courses. 

How  shall  these  meetings  be  conducted  ?  They  should  be  so  in- 
formal that  the  Volunteer  Band  members  will  feel  perfectly  free  to 
have  conference  at  any  time  in  the  meeting ;  but  they  should  not  be  so 
informal  that  work  is  carelessly  done.  It  is  essential  then  that  you,  as 
Volunteer  Bands,  keep  accurate,  careful  records.  The  Movement  is 
effective  so  far  as  it  knows  the  individual  persons  connected  with  it ; 
and  accurate  records  of  each  student  volunteer  will  be  increasingly 
valuable  as  historical  matter. 

Closing  then,  let  us  keep  in  mind  this  great  thing,  the  noon  watch 
of  prayer.  In  the  early  history  of  the  Movement  the  volunteers  every- 
where largely  united  at  the  noon  hour,  sometime  between  twelve  and 
one  o'clock,  in  praying  that  this  great  Movement  might  accomplish  the 
purpose  that  God  has  for  it,  and  that  the  great  foreign  field  ma}^  be 
reached.  May  it  not  be  that  from  this  Contention  shall  come  a  deter- 
mination to  continue  this  noon  watch,  so  that  when  the  missionaries  in 
the  foreign  fields  at  noontime  are  praying  we  here  may  also  pray,  and 


90  TiiK  World's  Conquest. 

thus  continue  the  great  circle  of  prayer  that  moves  around  the  world 
every  day,  that  the  world  may  be  evangelized  in  our  time. 


Evening  Session. 

The  Friday  evening  session  began  with  a  preliminary  song  service, 
led  by  Mr.  Stebbins. 

The  Max  of  God  axd  The  Word  of  God. 

The  Rev.  A,  J.  Gordon,  D.D.,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  said  :  — 
I  wish  to  say  a  few  words  as  to  the  agent  and  the  instrumentality 
by  which  God  has  ordained  that  we  shall  evangelize  the  world.  The 
Protestant  and  the  Catholic  theories  I  think  may  be  stated  thus  :  the 
Catholic  believes  that  you  must  bring  men  to  the  Church  in  order  to 
bring  them  to  Christ ;  the  Protestant,  that  you  must  bring  men  to  Christ 
in  order  to  bring  men  to  the  Church.  And  exactly  so  as  to  the  in- 
strumentality employed :  the  extreme  Roman  Catholic  view,  repre- 
sented by  the  Jesuits,  is  that  the  man  of  God  is  to  do  the  work ;  the 
extreme  Protestant  view,  represented  by  not  a  few,  is  that  the  Word 
of  God  must  do  the  work.  I  wish  to  say  a  word  to-night  about  the 
combination  of  these  two  —  the  man  of  God  as  the  agent,  and  the 
Word  of  God  as  the  divinely  appointed  instrument  for  evangelizing  the 
world.  Let  us  take  two  extreme  illustrations  :  Francis  Xavier  was  one 
of  the  most  zealous  missionaries  the  world  ever  saw ;  I  think  no  one 
would  hesitate  to  say  that  he  was  even  one  of  the  greatest  missionaries 
of  any  of  the  centuries.  And  yet,  by  the  concession  of  his  own  co- 
laborers  in  the  same  generation,  the  work  of  that  ardent  man  was  an 
absolute  failure,  leaving  in  a  few  years  hardly  a  trace  of  what  he  had 
attempted  so  zealously  to  accomplish.  Xavier  never  carried  the  Bible; 
he  never  sought  to  put  the  Scriptures  into  the  tongue  of  the  people  to 
whom  he  ministered.  Therefore,  though  he  wrought  most  nobly  and 
most  earnestly,  his  work  never  rooted  itself  so  as  to  remain  and  leave 
a  permanent  result  behind. 

There  are  some  who  seem  to  think  that  the  Scriptures  if  scattered 
broadcast  will  convert  the  heathen.  This  is  the  extreme  Protestant 
view.  Now,  my  dear  friends,  I  believe  if  you  refer  to  the  pastoral 
epistles  you  will  find  two  words  that  ought  always  to  be  linked  to- 
gether. You  read  about  "  the  man  of  God,  thoroughly  furnished  unto 
all  good  works."  You  read  in  these  same  epistles  about  "  the  Word  of 
God."  These  two  differ  and  yet  are  alike  in  this  particular.  What  is 
the  statement  with  reference  to  the  Word  of  God  ?  "  All  Scripture  is 
divinely  inihreathedr     It  is  all  Scripture  that  is  divinely  imbreathed. 


The   World's  Conquest.  91 

and  not  some  Scripture  that  is  profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for 
correction,  for  instruction  ;  but  all  Scripture  is  God-imbreathed, 

How  is  the  man  of  God  fitted  for  his  work  ?  Remember  that  Jesus 
Christ,  in  a  sort  of  foretaste  of  l^entecost,  breathed  upon  His  discijjles 
and  said,  "  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost."  Now,  that  is  the  idea ;  a  man 
of  God  imbreathed  with  the  Ploly  Ghost,  and  the  Word  of  God  im- 
breathed  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  man  of  God  carrying  the  Word  — 
these  two  together.  You  can't  bring  men  to  Christ,  generally  speaking, 
by  the  Word  of  God  alone ;  you  can't  do  any  permanent  work  with 
the  man  of  God  alone.  Man  must  carry  the  Word ;  and  the  Spirit 
that  inspires  the  man  inspires  the  Word.  The  inspired  man  and  the 
inspired  Word :  the  man  indwelt  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  Word 
indwelt  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  These,  I  think,  complete  and  round  out 
the  statement  of  God's  appointed  agencies  for  evangelizing  the  world. 

Now,  dwell  just  a  moment  upon  the  Word.  I  believe  that  this 
Scri^iture  not  only  icas  inspired  but  is  inspired ;  that  the  Spirit  of  God 
lives  and  breathes  in  its  letters  and  sentences.  Just  as  ray  blood  is  in 
every  part  of  my  body,  the  Spirit  of  God  is  in  every  part  of  this  Word, 
I  hold  in  my  hand  a  seed,  and  that  seed  has  in  it  the  waving  harvest. 
I  hold  in  my  hand  an  acorn,  and  that  acorn  holds  the  oak  —  the  wide- 
striking  roots  and  the  far-reaching  branches  all  wrapped  up  in  the 
acorn.  Now,  we  have  that  marvellous  characterization  of  the  Scriptures 
as  "  the  incorruptible  seed  of  the  Word."  Have  any  of  you  read  the 
remarkable  experiments  in  what  is  called  "  the  dynamic  power 
of  seeds,"  illustrating  how  a  little  seed  germinating  may  be  made  to 
lift  a  flagstone  out  of  its  place  ?  A  seed  dropped  into  a  crack  in  an  old 
heathen  temple,  germinates  and  strikes  its  root,  and  in  a  little  while  it 
rends  that  temjjle  asunder.  That  is  the  instrumentality  that  God  has 
established  for  saving  His  world,  —  the  seed  of  truth  lifting  empires 
off  their  hinges,  rending  in  sunder  old  colossal  systems  of  idolatry. 
The  Word  of  God  will  do  it,  and  we  never  need  to  hesitate  to  trust 
implicitly  in  the  Word  of  God,  because  the  Spirit  is  in  it.  Only,  when 
we  approach  it  we  must  be  sure  that  the  Spirit  is  in  us.  Why  is  not 
the  theory  of  an  eminent  preacher  true,  that  everj^  man  gets  his  message 
direct  from  Heaven,  apart  from  Scripture?  Because  God  saw  it 
needful  to  put  the  two  in  pairs.  That  is  to  say,  suppose  I  have  the 
Spirit  dwelling  in  me,  I  may  go  astray  because  of  the  aberrations  which 
my  own  ignorance  may  create,  and  I  need  constantly  to  have  my  zeal 
rectified  by  a  fixed  standard.  If  you  have  stereotype  plates  of  your 
book,  the  book  may  be  destroyed,  but  you  can  replace  it.  Teachers  and 
preachers  are  liable  to  go  astray,  but  they  have  the  stereotype  plates  of 
truth  in  the  Word  of  God  which  cannot  be  tampered  with.  "  I  know," 
said  a  great  thinker,  that  marvellous  young  man,  Arthur  Hallam, 
about  whom  Tennyson  wrote  the  "  In  Memoriam,"  "  I  know  that  the 


92  The  World's  Conquest. 

Bible  is  God's  Book,  because  I  find  that  it  is  man's  book ;  because  it 
fits  into  every  fold  and  turn  of  the  human  heart."  Most  true  saying  ! 
The  hunger  for  expiation,  the  craving  after  God,  the  deep  and  impene- 
trable desires  that  cannot  find  expression  in  human  language,  are 
answei'ed  in  this  book. 

Did  you  read  that  most  touching  and  suggestive  incident  in  the  life 
of  Edgerton  Young  :  "  What  is  the  key  that  will  unlock  these  savage 
hearts  that  are  confronting  me  to-day?  Can  I  open  these  hearts  by 
persuasion,  by  reason,  by  carefully  compacted  logic  which  shall  fit  into 
every  ward  of  those  hearts  ?  "  This  man  met  savages  who  were  defiant 
and  stolid,  and  when  he  simply  despaired  of  finding  the  key  to  their 
hearts,  he  said,  "  I  know  where  your  dead  children  are."  Doesn't  Jesus 
say,  "  Their  angels  do  always  behold  the  face  of  my  Father  which  is  in 
Heaven."  "  It  is  not  the  will  of  your  father  in  Heaven  that  one  of  these 
little  ones  should  perish."  "  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me, 
and  forbid  them  not ;  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  God."  These  texts 
had  a  simple,  brief,  and  pointed  exposition  in  the  words  of  this  mission- 
ary, "  I  know  where  your  dead  children  are,"  and  he  had  their  atten- 
tion. One  of  them  came  and  said,  "  Since  I  lost  my  little  one  the  hut 
has  been  so  lonesome  ;  since  the  child  went  from  me  the  bow  and  arrow 
are  there,  but  the  little  feet  and  hands  I  miss."  He  had  found  the  key 
that  had  opened  their  hearts.  It  is  wonderful  how  this  proves  true  all 
through  missionary  historj'.  Eighteen  years  the  Moravians  wrought  in 
the  far-off  regions  of  the  North,  and  were  about  to  give  up  their  mis- 
sion because  they  saw  no  visible  fruit  of  their  work.  At  the  end  of  that 
eighteen  years,  when  they  had  had  all  the  best  teaching  that  could  be 
given  them,  explanations  of  what  morality,  sobriety,  and  civilization 
mean,  one  simply  repeated  one  day  a  word  of  Scripture  :  "  The  Son  of 
Man  has  come  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost."  And  after 
eighteen  years  of  waiting  there  was  one  poor  wretched  woman  who 
heard  that  word,  —  one  so  bad  that  she  was  not  allowed  to  associate 
even  with  those  people,  as  low  as  they  were  in  the  scale  of  being,  — 
took  that  word  and  went  home  to  her  hut,  confessed  that  she  was  not 
worthy  to  associate  with  human  beings.  And  at  midnight,  with  a 
broken  heart,  she  lifted  up  her  eyes  to  this  One  that  came  to  seek  and 
to  save  that  which  was  lost.  And  after  eighteen  years  of  all  kinds  of 
measures  and  devices  for  winning  the  hearts  of  the  people  in  Labrador, 
the  first  convert  had  been  found  simpl}'  through  the  repetition  of  a  text 
of  Scripture.  And  within  six  weeks  all  the  region  was  ablaze  with  fire 
kindled  by  this  wretched  woman,  whose  heart  had  been  unlocked  by 
the  single  word,  "  The  Son  of  man  has  come  to  seek  and  to  save  that 
which  was  lost." 

There  is  nothing  that  can  be  substituted  for  the  Scripture,  it 
meets  so  profoundly  the  yearning  of  the  human  heart.     If  any  one 


The  World's  Conquest.  93 

wants  to  substitute  philosophy  for  it,  let  him  try  it.  T  think  the  differ- 
ence between  faith,  which  draws  its  living  out  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
philosophy,  which  is  constructed  out  of  reason,  is  simply  this :  Faith 
is  like  the  bee,  and  philosophy  is  like  the  spider.  The  bee  gets  his 
honey  from  flower  and  flower,  sucking  out  the  sweetness  and  storing 
it  away  that  he  may  feed  upon  it,  ever  going  outside  of  itself ;  while 
the  spider  spins  his  web  out  of  his  own  bowels.  He  can  construct  a 
beautiful  geometrical  figure,  marvellous  in  its  symmetry  and  the  beauty 
of  its  proportions ;  but  though  he  can  Avalk  over  it  there  is  not  an- 
other living  thing  that  can  thread  its  intricacies  without  getting  tangled 
up.  Let  the  preacher  of  the  word  say  forevermore,  "Thy  Word  is 
sweeter  than  honey  and  the  hone^'comb,"  drinking  out  of  the  flowers 
which  he  finds  in  prophet  and  evangelist  and  seer,  and  his  soul  will  be 
filled.  But  we  can't  feed  the  heathen  on  philosophy.  The  Word  is 
so  sweet  and  so  rich,  and  so  used  has  it  been  in  saving  men,  that,  after 
a  century  of  missions,  any  one  who  will  read  carefulh'  will  find  that 
nearly  all  the  great  conquests  have  come  by  the  reception  of  some 
saving  text  of  Scripture. 

You  know  that  a  gi-eat  many  of  the  most  eminent  missionaries  in 
the  early  part  of  this  century  went  out  with  the  theory  that  you  must 
civilize  men  before  you  can  convert  them.  Samuel  Marsden  said  that 
when  he  went  to  New  Zealand.  After  twent}'  years  he  reversed  his 
judgment,  saying,  twenty  years'  experience  proves  that  men  must  first 
be  converted,  and  civilized  afterwards.  Hans  Egede  went  to  Green- 
land with  the  same  notion,  and  wrote  a  little  pamphlet  in  which  he 
said  :  "  A  man  would  certainly  be  very  foolish  to  expect  to  preach  the 
Gosi)el  to  a  heathen  people  without  first  clearing  away  the  thorns  and 
rubbish  to  make  room  for  the  seed  of  the  Word.  The  people  must  be 
civilized  and  instructed  before  we  can  expect  to  do  anything  with  the 
Gospel  among  them."  He  wrought  for  fifteen  years  on  that  plan  ;  and 
he  was  a  noble  and  self-sacrificing  missionary.  I  would  not  utter  any 
word  of  disparagement  about  him.  I  wish  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
had  many  heroes  in  the  missionary  field  like  him.  But  fifteen  years 
he  labored  without  any  result ;  and  then  John  Beck  came  after  him, 
and  one  day  Avas  simply  reading  the  Word  of  Scripture  describing 
the  Passion  of  our  Lord.  He  had  no  idea  what  would  be  the  result. 
Kajarnak  stood  before  him,  a  savage  of  the  worst  type ;  and,  as  he 
finished  reading  it,  he  said,  "Read  that  again."  And  he  read  it  again. 
And  he  said,  '•'Tell  it  once  more."  And  he  read  it  a  second  time. 
And  he  said,  ''Can  that  be  true?"  And  the  result  was  that  that 
savage  heart  was  broken  simply  by  the  story  of  the  Cross.  Ought  it 
not  to  be  so,  when  it  is  written  that  the  preaching  of  the  Cross  is  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation  ? 


94  Thk  World's  Conquest. 

My  dear  friends,  there  is  nothing  like  it.  And  I  think  that  we, 
ourselves,  though  we  believe  in  all  that  I  have  been  setting  before  you 
to-night,  have  not  as  strong  a  faith  in  our  own  commission,  and  in  the 
agency  which  God  has  appointed  for  making  that  commission  a  suc- 
cess, as  we  ought  to  have.  I  am  speaking  to-night  about  things  of 
which  I  have  known ;  and  I  want  to  give  you  an  illustration  of  what 
the  simple  Word  of  God  will  do.  I  heard  from  a  missionary  friend 
of  mine  a  remarkable  experience ;  it  has  been  written  down,  and  it 
is  not  only  a  spoken  word,  but  now  a  written  word.  This  is  the 
story :  — 

Here  was  my  friend,  Henrj^  Richards,  who  had  worked  for  seven 
3'-ears  on  the  Congo,  being  one  of  the  first  missionaries  in  that  newly 
opened  field.  At  the  end  of  nearly  seven  years  he  told  me  he  was 
almost  in  despair :  he  had  not  seen  the  slightest  opening  in  those  hea- 
then hearts,  nor  the  slightest  indication  that,  with  all  his  preaching 
and  labor,  there  had  been  any  impression  made.  He  went  home  to 
England,  and  sought  the  wisest  missionaries  and  counsellors,  to  find  if 
any  one  could  tell  him  any  secret  by  which  he  could  get  at  the  hearts 
of  these  savages.  "  Well,"  one  said,  "  have  you  preached  the  law  to 
them?"  He  got  that  perhaps  in  Scotland,  where  they  quoted  the 
famous  saying,  that  if  a  woman  is  sewing  she  must  first  put  in  the 
needle,  and  then  draw  the  thread  ;  and  so  ;^ou  must  first  thrust  in  the 
needle  of  the  law,  and  then  draw  as  long  a  thread  of  Gospel  salvation 
as  you  like.  He  said :  "  I  thought  I  had  it,  and  went  back  to  those 
people  and  began  to  preach  the  law.  I  showed  them  how  they  had 
broken  every  one  of  the  Ten  Commandments.  They  looked  at  us 
blandly,  and  with  the  utmost  self-satisfaction  said,  'Well,  you  white 
people  are  probably  sinners,  but  we  are  not.'  And  I  worked  away  at 
the  law,  hammering  at  it,  and  thrusting  in  the  needle,  until  I  got  com- 
pletely exhausted  on  that  line.  Somebody  else  had  said,  'Perhaps  you 
are  not  as  filled  with  the  Spirit  of  God  yourself  as  you  ought  to  be.' 
I  entered  into  a  deep  and  earnest  search  after  more  of  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  I  had  much  prayer.  I  can't  say  that  I  was  con- 
scious of  any  great  blessing."  Nevertheless,  you  see,  when  he  prayed 
that  the  Holy  Ghost  would  guide  him,  he  got  what  he  asked,  without 
perhaps  knowing  how. 

He  said  he  was  expounding  this  text,  "  Give  to  every  man  that  asketh 
of  thee,"  and  he  went  on  to  explain  that  it  meant  benevolence.  Then 
he  had  to  explain  what  benevolence  was.  Well,  he  thought  it  over. 
If  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  meant  to  say  "  Be  benevolent "  why  didn't  He 
put  it  so?  But  He  said,  "Give  to  every  man  that  asketh."  And  he 
says,  "  The  real  fact  was  that  I  didn't  want  to  tell  them  just  what  it 
meant,  because  they  are  the  greatest  beggars  in  the  world."  But  he 
said,  "  I  went  next  daj^  and  modified  it  a  little,  put  it  a  little  more 


The  World's  Conquest.  95 

plainly,  and  came  away  dissatisfied  again."  Then  he  said,  "  I  will  go 
and  explain  it  just  as  it  means.  The  Master  who  sent  me  said,  '  Give 
to  every  one  that  asketh  of  thee.' "  Is  there  a  more  impractical  text  than 
that  to  preach  upon  to  savages?  He  said,  "  It  means  just  this  :  if  you 
ask  for  this  blanket  I  am  to  give  it  to  you."  He  said  he  saw  a  wonder- 
ful smile  lighting  up  his  black  congregation.  "  But,"  he  said,  "  I  stuck 
to  my  text,  and  I  told  them  the  truth,  and  I  just  preached  them  a  ser- 
mon upon  that.  Was  not  that  the  foolishness  of  preaching?  After  I 
had  ended  one  came  up  and  said,  '  I  would  like  this  blanket.'  '  Very 
well,  you  can  have  it.'  "  Another  was  taken  with  his  fine  brass-mounted 
inkstand ;  he  said,  "  Very  well,  you  can  have  it."  Another  wanted  his 
chair.  "  As  a  matter  of  fact,"  he  said,  "  before  the  sun  was  dovm  I 
hadn't  much  left.  Then  my  good  wiie  came  and  said,  '  Well,  now,  you 
may  give  away  your  own  things ;  but  I  don't  think  this  text  requires 
you  to  give  awa}-  my  things.' "  He  said,  "  Very  well,  you  can  keep 
your  things ;  but  I  am  simply  going  to  carry  out  the  Scripture  as  I 
understand  it."     So  he  took  the  consequences. 

"  A  while  afterwards  they  were  having  Avhat  they  call  a  palaver, 
and  I  heard  one  of  them  say,  '  That  is  a  wonderful  man  ;  I  never  saw 
a  white  man  like  that  before.  All  these  white  men  that  come  down 
here  want  to  get  all  they  can,  and  get  the  best  end  of  a  trade,  and  they 
are  trying  to  rob  us.  But  here  is  a  man  that  comes  and  tells  us  that 
his  God,  whom  he  represents,  told  him  to  say,  "  To  every  man  that 
asketh  thee,  give."  What  do  you  think  about  him?'  'Well,'  said 
one,  '  I  think  he  must  be  God's  man.  He  is  different  from  any  man  we 
have  seen.'"  Finally,  after  talking  it  over  a  long  time,  they  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  this  was  God's  man,  and  before  sunrise  next  morn- 
ing they  brought  everything  back,  and  said  "  We  can't  afford  to  rob  any 
of  God's  men."  And  from  that  day  on,  he  said,  they  never  asked  him 
for  another  thing.  Now,  what  happened.  Not  long  ago  I  received  a 
dispatch  from  Henry  Richards,  at  his  station  on  the  Congo,  and  this 
was  the  message  :  "  Two  thousand  conversions  in  one  month."  And 
that  was  the  beginning  of  that  work  on  the  Congo.  No  sooner  were 
these  men  con^-inced  that  this  was  God's  man  than  they  began  to  pay 
attention  to  what  he  said.  The  Spirit  of  God  came  sweeping  over 
those  people,  so  that  it  took  him  all  day  and  all  night  to  listen  to  those 
who  were  asking  how  to  be  saved. 

You  know  the  Scriptures  lay  great  emphasis,  by  the  mouth  of  Paul, 
speaking  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  upon  the  foolishness  of  preaching.  I 
don't  believe  that  illustration  can  be  paralleled  in  all  missionary  historv. 
How  absurd,  how  absolutely  and  completely  astray,  from  all  that  we 
should  call  reasonable,  was  the  conduct  of  a  teacher  who  would  apply 
a  text  like  that  exactly  as  it  means?  But  I  believe  that  is  the  way  to 
teach.     Be  not  afraid  of  the  Word  of  God ;  let  the  people  have  it,  and 


96  The  World's  Conquest. 

let  them  liave  it  as  a  naked  sword  ;  and  the  Spirit  Himself  declares  that 
the  Word  of  God  is  the  sword  of  the  Spirit.  The  sword  of  the  Spirit 
will  open  the  hearts  when  we  cannot  open  them. 

Now,  for  the  other  side.  The  man  of  God  must  carry  the  Word, 
And  the  power  of  that  Word  was  simply  in  this,  that  it  was  indwelt  by 
the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  the  power  of  the  man  that  carried  the  Word 
must  be  in  this  always,  that  he  himself  is  indwelt  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 
There  is  nothing  more  exquisitely  beautiful  than  that  simple  scene 
of  Jesus  Christ  breathing  upon  His  disciples,  saying,  "  Receive  ye  "  — 
remember  it  is  the  active,  not  the  passive  word  —  He  says,  "  Take  ye 
the  Holy  Ghost."  He  has  given  God's  greatest  gift  —  that  which  in- 
cludes all  other  gifts  in  itself  —  the  Holy  Spirit.  Take  this  by  a  per- 
sonal appropriating  faith  and  you  will  find  in  it  all  that  you  can  desire 
for  spiritual  equipment  and  power. 

The  Volunteer  Movement  ajiong  Students  in  Non-Christian 

Lands. 

Luther  D.  Wishard,  Foreign  Secretary  of  the  International  Com- 
mittee of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations,  said :  — 

Three  years'  study  of  missionary  problems  in  twenty  foreign  mission 
lands  satisfies  me  that  the  evangelization  of  those  countries  depends 
largely  upon  their  own  educated  young  men  and  women.  If  this  be 
true,  it  follows  that  if  we  realize  the  purpose  of  our  battle  cry,  if  the 
world  is  evangelized  during  this  generation,  there  must  be  a  Students' 
Volunteer  Movement  for  Home  Missions  in  every  non-Christian  land. 
The  American  Volunteer  Movement  was  conceived,  born,  and  devel- 
oped into  its  present  splendid  proportions  hy  the  Intercollegiate  Young 
Men's  and  Young  Women's  Christian  Associations.  The  experience 
acquired  in  promoting  the  American  Movement  has  prepared  these 
organizations  for  a  world-wide  task.  To  plant  the  Associations  in 
every  nation  and  nourish  them  until  they  blossom  and  yield  the  mis- 
sionary enterprise,  the  rare  consummate  fruit  of  the  American  Associa- 
tions, is  our  supreme  duty,  and  will  in  eternity  be  regarded  as  our 
supreme  achievement. 

The  difficulties  involved  in  this  enterprise  are  stupendous,  such  as 
can  be  surmounted  only  by  an  omnipresent,  omnipotent  Leader.  The 
first  stage  in  the  enterin-isc  consists  in  the  evangelization  of  the  higher 
educational  institutions  in  foreign  mission  lands.  These  contain  nearly 
a  half  million  students,  not  more  than  ten  thousand  of  whom,  probably, 
are  enrolled  in  the  membership  of  the  Church  invisible.  Modern 
culture  has  largely  dispossessed  these  students  of  their  religious  super- 
stitions, but  they  are  so  chagrined  to  find  that  then-  people  have  been 
deluded  by  false  religions  that  they  are  exceedingly  distrustful  of  all 


The  World's  Conquest.  97 

siipernatm-alism.  They' are  so  absorbed  in  the  acquisition  of  an  educa- 
tion, which  in  many  countries  is  a  passport  to  remunerative  employ- 
ment, that  they  in  many  cases  frankly  confess  that  they  haven't  time 
to  investigate  Christianity.  Modern  culture  and  civilization  have  cast 
out  of  many  men  the  devil  of  heathenism,  but  hi  most  cases  seven 
other  devils  retain  possession  of  the  man, —  the  devils  of  alcohol,  opium, 
extravagance,  agnosticism,  licentiousness,  caste,  and  national  egotism, 
the  first  four  of  which  are  du-ectly  traceable  to  godless  civilization  and 
cultm'e.  Surely  the  regeneration  of  the  colleges  of  non-Christian  lands 
and  theu'  transformation  into  distributing  centers  of  Christianity  is  a 
herculean  labor,  but  it  is  not  impossible. 

There  are  some  facts  characteristic  of  students  in  the  East  favorable 
to  their  reception  of  Christianity,  if  propagated  by  students  from  the 
West.  It  is  somethuig  to  have  rolled  away  the  stone  from  the  door 
of  the  sepulchre ;  education  has  rolled  away  the  stone  of  superstition 
from  the  door  of  many  hearts.  Students  are  beginnmg  to  consider  the 
fact  that  Christianity  is  and  has  been  the  only  rehgion  of  permanently 
self-governing  ])eoj)les ;  this  fact  has  especially  impressed  the  young 
men  of  Japan  and  India,  who  are  taking  then*  first  steps  in  con- 
stitutional liberty.  The  homogeneity  of  the  student  world  is  a  fact 
of  deep  significance,  and  suggests  the  feasibility  of  the  spread  of  popu- 
lar movements  from  the  students  of  the  West  to  those  of  the  East. 
The  very  conservatism  which  has  held  the  Oriental  so  tenaciously  to 
his  false  rehgion  may  be  turned  to  the  account  of  Christianit}'  when  it 
is  once  firmly  anchored  in  his  nature. 

Christian  societies  of  students  have  played  so  important  a  part  in 
modern  church  history  in  the  West,  and  in  some  parts  of  the  East,  as 
to  encourage  us  to  associate  them  with  the  Church's  enterprises  through- 
out the  entu'e  East.  Most  conspicuous  in  the  list  of  such  societies  was 
the  Oxford  Holy  Club,  or  Methodists,  as  the  Oxford  students  nicknamed 
the  members.  They  were  derided  and  scoffed  at  in  Oxford,  but  there 
was  joy  in  the  presence  of  the  angels  in  heaven  when  the  birth  of  that 
student  brotherhood  was  j^roclaimed.  This  splendid  auditorium  and 
the  Holy  Club  which  occupies  it  are  lineal  descendants  of  that  little 
band  and  the  room  in  which  it  met.  A  very  small  room  in  Lincoln 
College,  Oxford,  was  quite  large  enough  to  contain  all  the  Methodists 
in  the  world  in  1730;  but  where  is  the  convocation  hall  large  enough 
now  to  contain  the  division  of  the  army  headed  by  John  Wesley? 
Where,  outside  of  the  throne  room  in  the  King's  palace  in  the  city 
which  John  saw  coming  down  from  God  out  of  heaven  ?  The  Hay- 
stack Prayer  Meeting  in  Williams  College  prayed  into  existence  the 
American  Board,  which  all  the  other  missionary  boards  in  America 
have  apostolically  succeeded.  It  also  set  in  motion  a  train  of  incidents 
which  have  culminated  in  this  great  missionary  Movement,  which  Dr. 


98  The  World's  Conquest. 

McCosh  pronounces  the  most  remarkable  since  Pentecost.  About 
eighteen  years  ago,  in  Japan,  two  students'  bands  were  formed  in  ex- 
treme parts  of  the  Empire,  one  at  Sapporo  Agricultural  College,  the 
other  at  a  boys'  school  in  Kumamoto.  The  former  developed  into  a 
church,  and  the  city  of  Sapporo  is  more  thoroughly  permeated  with 
Christianity  than  any  other  city  which  I  have  visited  in  Asia ;  the 
Kumamoto  Band  entered  the  Doshisha,  then  recently  founded  by  Joseph 
Neesima,  and,  by  the  splendid  scholarship  of  its  members,  anchored  the 
institution  in  the  confidence  of  the  Japanese.  From  that  band  came 
many  of  the  leading  ministers  of  the  Congregational  Church,  who  have 
effected  the  remarkable  growth  of  that  church  in  Japan.  The  names 
of  some  of  the  members  of  that  band  will  shine  like  stars  of  the  first 
magnitude  in  the  galaxy  of  illustrious  names  which  shall  be  celebrated 
by  future  historians  of  early  Christianity  in  the  Sunrise  Kingdom.  In 
view  of  the  marvellous  records  of  these  student  societies,  have  we  not 
ample  ground  for  magnifying  the  possible  achievements  of  the  Inter- 
collegiate Young  Men's  and  Young  Women's  Christian  Associations? 

The  achievements  of  these  Associations  need  no  elaborate  recital 
here  in  the  home  of  their  friends.  They  are  anchoring  the  English  Bible 
in  the  curriculum  of  American  colleges ;  they  have  for  seventeen  years 
been  the  raains})ring,  humanly  speaking,  of  the  revivals  which  have 
blessed  our  colleges,  and  resulted  during  these  years  in  the  conversion 
of  at  least  four  students  every  day ;  they  have  prepared  nearly  one 
hundred  thousand  educated  men  and  women  for  leadership  among  the 
laity  in  the  churches'  enterprises  at  home  and  abroad ;  they  have 
influenced  quite  three  thousand  men  to  enter  the  ministry  —  fully  as 
many  as  the  number  baptized  on  the  birthday  of  the  Church ;  finally, 
to  crown  this  unparalleled  record  of  achievements,  they  have  written 
on  their  standard  the  ringing  watch  cry,  "The  evangelization  of  the 
world  in  this  generation ! "  and  have  lifted  up  the  standard  so  high 
that  the  sacramental  host  in  every  nation  can  see  it  and  follow  it  to 
victory.  Already  nearly  seven  hundred  young  men  and  women,  whose 
names  are  on  the  muster  roll  of  the  volunteer  corjjs  of  the  grand  army, 
have  gone  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth.  In  a  word,  the  colleges 
of  America  have  become  academies  of  the  Church  Militant  for  the 
enrollment,  equipment,  and  training  of  leaders  in  the  Church's  last 
crusade  for  the  evangelization  of  the  world. 

Is  this  movement  caj^able  of  adaptation  to  the  colleges  in  for- 
eign mission  lands?  Let  the  first  few  years'  experience  of  the  work 
in  Asia  answer.  The  readiness  with  which  the  students  of  Asia  have 
answered  the  call  of  their  fellow  students  in  America  is  a  significant 
rebuke  to  the  little  faith  with  which  some  of  the  leaders  of  the  Ameri- 
can Associations  received  the  appeal  from  missionaries  to  send  men  to 
organize  and  direct  the  Movement  at  the  educational  centers  of  Asia 


The  Wokld's  Conquest.  99 

and  South  America.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  missionaries  united  in  the 
appeal,  representing  at  least  twelve  leading  denominations  in  North 
America,  Great  Britain,  and  Germany.  The  appeal  was  strengthened 
by  the  endorsement  of  prominent  pastors  in  the  native  churches;  it 
was  confirmed  by  leading  secretaries  and  members  of  the  missionary 
boards  and  societies  in  Great  Britain  and  America.  To  fully  satisfy 
the  International  Conmiittee  of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations 
whether  the  time  was  ripe  for  the  new  missionary  enterprise,  an  ex- 
haustive study  of  the  great  educational  centers  of  Asia  was  made, 
involving  a  tour  of  over  three  years,  during  which  two  hundred  and 
sixteen  mission  stations  in  twenty  mission  lands  were  visited,  and  nearly 
a  thousand  missionaries  were  met  personally,  hundreds  of  whom  were 
conferred  with  about  this  Movement.  Is  it  not  a  fact  of  extraordinary 
significance  that,  among  this  large  number  of  the  Church's  leaders  of 
her  foreign  work,  only  one  is  remembered  who  expressed  disapproval 
of  the  proposed  enterprise  ?  As  for  the  students  in  the  scores  of  col- 
leges visited,  they  expressed  the  warmest  sympathy  for  the  proposal. 
The  observations  and  experiences  of  the  tour  have  never  been  pre- 
sented to  as  important  an  audience  as  this.  Some  of  the  twenty-five 
men  needed  for  the  dii'ection  of  the  work  are  probably  here  to-night ; 
many  missionaries  here  assembled  Avill  soon  return  to  their  work  at 
educational  centers,  and  then-  understanding  of  this  Movement  and 
then-  co-operation  with  it  are  indispensable.  It  is  a  privilege  to  report 
to  the  secretaries  and  members  of  missionary  boards  the  results 
ah*eady  accomplished.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  encouragement  of  the 
board  secretaries,  the  Church's  home  leaders  of  the  foreign  work,  this 
Movement  would  never  have  been  undertaken  ;  mthout  their  constant 
approval  and  sympathy  it  will  fail  to  accomplish  its  highest  usefulness. 
The  strongest  appeal  that  can  be  made  in  behalf  of  this  new  mission- 
ary enterprise  is  the  statement  of  what  it  has  already  accomplished ; 
for  it  has  already  been  tested  in  several  foreign  mission  lands. 

In  Japan,  under  the  wise  leadership  of  Messrs.  Swift  and  Miller,  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  has  been  planted  in  fifteen  institu- 
tions, eleven  of  them  Government  colleges,  including  the  Imperial 
University  and  several  of  the  higher  preparatoiy  schools  of  the  Empire. 
The  occupation  of  Government  schools  is  an  achievement  of  great  sig- 
nificance ;  it  means  for  them  what  the  planting  of  the  Association  in 
our  state  universities  meant.  It  has  united  the  students  of  fifteen  col- 
leges, and  young  men  in  as  many  cities,  in  a  national  movement  which 
is  enlisting  the  university  and  business  men  in  a  combined  effort  in 
behalf  of  the  evangelization  of  all  young  men.  Already  four  educated 
men  have  been  secured  as  general  secretaries  or  leaders  of  this  work  in 
four  of  the  large  cities  of  Japan.  Its  five  annual  national  gatherings 
have  been  attended  by  fully  two  thousand  students  and  educated  men ; 


100  The  World's  Conquest. 

the  last  one,  containing  six  hundred  students,  was  larger  than  any 
student  convention  ever  held  in  the  West  except  the  two  volunteer 
conventions.  Already  over  two  hundred  students  have  made  a  public 
confession  of  Christ  and  united  with  the  churches.  Some  of  these  men 
are  preparing  for  the  ministry,  and  many  others  who  are  entering 
business  have  solemnly  declared  that  the  evangelization  of  their  people 
shall  be  the  chief  object  of  their  lives.  The  readiness  of  Japanese 
students  to  res]>ond  to  the  offer  of  salvation  in  Jesus  Christ  was  strik- 
ingly illustrated  in  an  experience  which  occurred  during  our  work  in 
the  Doshisha,  in  Kyoto. 

One  afternoon  in  that  never-to-l)e-forgotten  series  of  meetings  in 
the  Doshisha,  in  Kyoto,  a  band  of  forty  boys  was  gathered  around  me 
for  a  conversation  with  regard  to  the  evidences  of  Christianity  and  the 
principles  of  salvation.  I  said  to  them,  "Now,  fellows,  we  have  been 
together  a  number  of  days,  and  you  must  have  made  some  progress  in 
this  investigation.  How  many  of  you  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
Son  of  God,  the  Saviour  of  the  world  ?  How  many  of  you  believe  that 
this  is  the  Word  of  God?  And  how  many  of  you  men  desire,  believing 
as  you  do  in  this  Word  and  in  this  Saviour  as  a  Divine  Saviour,  to  ap- 
propriate that  salvation  to-day  ?  "  Twenty-two  of  the  forty  boys  arose 
and  followed  me  into  the  adjoining  room.  We  spent  an  hour  together 
in  a  Bible  study,  simply  tracing  out  the  plan  of  salvation.  At  the 
close  of  the  hour  I  said  to  them,  "  Now,  this  Bible  has  made  this  matter 
as  plain  as  it  can  be  made.  How  many  of  you  are  willing,  here  and 
now,  to  accept  this  great  gift  of  eternal  life  that  is  offered  you  in  Jesus 
Christ?" 

There  was  a  moment's  silence,  and  one  man  arose  and  began  to 
speak,  and  another  followed  him,  and  another.  I  never  heard  sweeter 
music  in  my  life  than  the  voices  of  those  Japanese  boys.  I  did  not 
know  at  once  the  words  they  were  speaking,  but  I  knew  from  the 
expression  on  then-  faces  what  the  meaning  was.  They  were  making 
the  great  confession.  After  seventeen  of  them  had  spoken,  a  stillness 
fell  upon  the  group,  and  five  of  the  boys  sat  with  downcast  faces. 

"  Dear  fellows,  aren't  you  ready  to  take  this  stand  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  we  are  quite  ready ;  but  Mr.  Wishard,  this  is  too  good  to 
be  true?" 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  " 

They  rei)lied,  "  The  idea  of  the  Son  of  God  giving  men  eternal  life  ! 
We  would  like  to  believe  it ;  it  is  sweeter  than  anything  we  ever 
heard ;  but  it  is  too  good  to  be  true.     We  might  be  deluded." 

"  Well,  dear  fellows,  how  do  you  expect  to  gain  eternal  life  without 
somebody  giving  it  to  you  ?     Can  you  buy  it  ?  " 

"No." 

"  Can  you  inherit  it  ?  " 


The  World's  Conquest,  101 

"  No,  our  fathers  lost  the  inlieritance." 

"  Then  you  must  get  it  by  receiving  it." 
"  But,"  they  said,  "  it  is  too  good  to  be  true ;  we  would  be  dreadfully 
disappointed  if  we  should  trust  in  this  and  find  that  we  have  been 
deluded  as  our  fathers  have  been  by  their  old  faiths," 

I  said,  "  Boys,  what  will  convince  you  ?  "  I  remembered  an  incident 
which  Dr,  Gordon  once  related  in  Northfield ;  I  hadn't  thought  of  it 
for  months.  I  said,  "  What  would  convince  you  that  a  piece  of  prop- 
erty in  this  city  is  yours?" 

"  Oh,"  they  said,  "  if  we  could  go  and  see  it  Ave  would  be  convinced," 

"  That  is  a  very  easy  way  to  acquire  property." 

They  looked  confused  and  finally  confessed  that  that  was  not  the 
way  they  knew  that  a  piece  of  property  is  theirs.  But  finally  they  said 
they  could  tell  by  the  great  record  book  in  the  government  office. 

"  That  is  the  way  we  know  that  eternal  life  is  ours," 

"  Is  there  a  record  book  ?  "  they  cried, 

I  said,  "  Yes,  thank  God,  we  have  a  record  book," 

"  Well,  where -is  the  record  book  ?  " 

They  wanted  to  believe,  but  they  didn't  want  to  be  deluded.  I  said 
to  them,  "  Dear  fellows,  all  of  you  probably  have  the  record  book," 

They  looked  at  me  in  blank  amazement,  and  one  of  them  said, "  Do 
yoii  mean  the  Bible  ?  Is  that  the  record  book  ?  We  never  thought 
upon  it  in  that  light." 

"  Yes,"  I  said,  « that  is  the  record  book." 

"  Well,  where  is  the  record  ?  " 

Their  eyes  were  all  aflame  with  eagerness ;  they  wanted  to  believe. 
I  tiirned  to  the  First  Epistle  of  John,  the  fifth  chapter  and  the  eleventh 
verse,  and  after  some  trouble  they  found  it.  And  I  can  see  those  young 
men  at  this  moment,  as  I  describe  it  to  you,  bending  low  over  the  fine 
print  of  then"  little  Testaments,  And  having  found  it  one  of  them  be- 
gan reading  :  "  And  this  is  the  record,  that  God  hath  given  to  us  eternal 
life,  and  this  life  is  in  His  Son,"  They  looked  at  it  and  read  it  again 
and  again  ;  their  faces  began  to  shine,  although  I  confess  I  saw  then* 
faces  through  dimmed  eyes.  It  was  a  touching  sight.  One  of  them 
grasped  my  hand,  and  pressing  it  convulsiveh^  said,  "  That  settles  the 
question  ;  that  is  all  the  evidence  I  want."  They  all  said  the  same,  and, 
after  joining  in  a  pi*ayer  of  fervent  thanksgiving,  they  gathered  around 
and  tried  to  tell  through  the  interpreter  how  thankful  they  were  that  I 
had  come  and  opened  that  record  book  at  the  very  place  where  the 
record  of  the  promise  of  eternal  life  was  made. 

In  China  a  work  has  already  been  accomplished  in  several  colleges 
which  justifies  the  adoption  of  the  Association  by  every  institution  m 
the  Empire,  In  Tungchou  College,  near  Peking,  there  is  a  band  of 
students  whose  work,  were  it  known,  would  be  an  inspiration  to  the 


102  Thk  World's  Conquest. 

entii'e  college  world.  Prayer  meetings  and  Bible  classes  are  main- 
tained ;  individual  work  is  done  in  college  ;  and  much  preaching  is  done 
in  the  street  chapels.  A  stereopticon  entertainment  to  illustrate 
Christian  truth  is  held  in  the  college  chapel,  which  has  attracted  many 
of  the  best  business  men  of  the  city,  who  could  not  be  drawn  into  the 
street  chapel  services ;  and,  strange  as  it  may  seem  to  those  who  think 
the  Chinese  have  a  sufficiently  large  home  missionary  problem  to  absorb 
all  tlieir  attention,  there  is  a  foreign  missionary  meeting  held  every  month 
to  study  the  progress  and  pray  for  the  spread  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ 
throughout  the  world.  The  new  hearts  which  God  has  given  those 
Chinese  students  are  too  large  to  be  filled  even  by  the  Chinese  Empii-e 
with  its  four  hundred  millions.  They  are  taking  a  hand  in  the  evangel- 
ization of  Africa  by  educating  a  boj^  in  a  school  hi  Zululand  at  their 
own  expense.  Out  of  then-  bitter  poverty  these  Chinese  students  are 
giving  on  a  scale  which,  if  imitated  by  the  churches  in  the  one  state  of 
Michigan,  would  probably  yield  money  enoixgh  to  evangelize  one  entire 
mission  land.  May  T  not  therefore  plead  with  confidence  for  a  man  to 
go  to  Peking  in  response  to  the  missionaries'  call,  to  devote  his  life  to 
the  students  who  gather  from  all  the  eighteen  provinces  of  the  Empire 
for  their  examinations  for  admission  to  the  civil  service?  A  man 
anointed  for  such  a  work  might  render  a  service  to  the  Chinese  Empire 
little  short  of  that  which  the  early  Christians  accomplished  for  the 
Roman  Empire  in  the  city  on  the  Tiber. 

The  college  Association  in  Jaffna  College,  Ceylon,  the  first  one 
organized  outside  of  America,  although  only  ten  years  old  the  15th 
of  March,  affords  another  striking  evidence  of  the  home  missionary 
significance  of  this  college  Movement  in  Asia.  A  score  of  organiza- 
tions have  already  sprung  from  it,  including  five  among  students ;  a 
provincial  union  has  been  effected,  and  conventions  are  held  larger 
than  many  of  our  State  conventions.  The  students  are  conducting  a 
mission  on  an  island  near  the  mainland,  whose  missionary  is  supported 
by  a  fund  acquired  by  the  sale  of  one-tenth  of  theii-  daily  rations  of  rice 
and  the  proceeds  of  a  banana  garden  which  they  appoint  a  committee 
of  twelve  students  to  cultivate.  It  was  an  inspkation  to  me  to  walk 
through  the  beautiful  grove,  the  fruit  of  whose  trees  is  for  the  heal- 
ing of  their  nation,  and  watch  them  at  work  on  the  well-sweeps,  draw- 
ing water  and  filling  the  trenches.  Realize,  if  you  can,  that  the  year's 
work  yielded  only  twenty  dollars !  If  the  students  of  one  of  our  col- 
leges practised  the  self-denial  of  those  Ceylonese  students,  they  might 
support  the  man  whom  those  students  are  so  eagerly  waiting  for  to 
help  them  in  the  development  of  this  Movement  throughout  theii- 
Island. 

The  vanguard  of  the  Association  army  is  now  encamping  before 
the  Jericho  of  modern  missions,  the  universities  of  India.     I  do  not 


The  World's  Conquest.  103 

say  the  Gibraltar  of  missions ;  for  that  term  suggests  impregnability, 
which  we  are  not  disposed  to  concede.  I  say  the  Jericho,  first,  be- 
cause the  Clim-ch  has  been  marching  around  the  fortress  for  six  decades 
of  years ;  and,  second,  because  the  same  doom  awaits  the  high  caste 
walls  which  encompass  the  educated  classes  of  India,  which  befell  the 
old  city  by  the  Jordan.  India's  Jericho  will  fall.  It  will  fall  if  we 
have  to  march  around  it  six  more  decades  of  years ;  it  will  fall  if  its 
fall  is  deferred  until  our  Joshua  comes  again  to  lead  the  attack  which 
will  force  the  hundi-ed-barred  gates ;  it  will  fall  if  the  siege  is  delayed 
until  the  Lord  descends  from  heaven  with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of 
the  archangel  and  the  triimp  of  God. 

The  number  of  educated  young  men  in  India  is  estimated  by  mill- 
ions. The  subversion  of  their  belief  in  the  so-called  scientific  teachings 
of  their  old  sacred  books  has  been  quickly  followed  by  a  distrust  of 
the  religious  teachings  of  the  same  books.  The  relation  of  the  colleges 
to  India's  evangelization  is  most  forcibly  illustrated  by  the  work  of  a 
single  institution,  Pasumalai  College,  near  Madura.  During  the  forty 
years  of  its  history  it  has  raised  up  five  hundred  Christian  workers 
who  have  scattered  all  over  Southern  India.  This  marvellous  achieve- 
ment of  one  institution,  and  the  work  accomplished  by  the  old  students 
of  Duff  and  others,  encourage  the  belief  that  a  vigorous,  persistent 
evangelistic  work  at  the  student  centers  will  raise  up  a  large  force 
of  men  to  evangelize  and  train  in  Christian  doctrine  and  life  the  vast 
multitude  of  low  castes  who  are  so  eagerly  responding  to  the  offer  of 
the  Gospel. 

The  success  which  has  marked  the  introduction  of  this  Movement 
in  other  Eastern  nations  is  alone  sufticient  to  justify  the  attempt  to  or- 
ganize it  in  India.  The  great  need  of  such  a  Movement  in  India  is  also 
an  argument  for  it  sufficient  in  itself,  for  what  ought  to  be  done  can  be 
done.  The  reception  given  the  messengers  of  this  Movement,  Messrs. 
McConaughy,  White,  and  Wilder,  by  the  students  of  India,  is  a  further 
indication  of  the  ripeness  of  the  time  for  the  introduction  of  the  enter- 
prise. 

In  appealing  to  you,  my  fellow  students,  to  consider  this  work 
among  the  educated  young  men  of  the  East,  among  other  fields  of  for- 
eign mission  work,  let  me  if  possible  try  to  indicate  the  real  significance 
of  this  work  by  another  incident  which  illustrates  its  pm-pose.  The  in- 
cident occurred  at  the  close  of  a  meeting  in  Osaka,  Japan.  As  I  walked 
to  the  station  in  company  with  a  couple  of  missionaries,  I  overheard 
rapid  footsteps,  and  looking  around  I  saw  a  young  man,  a  student,  tiying 
to  overtake  us.  When  he  reached  us  he  began  talking  in  eager  tones. 
In  response  to  my  request  one  of  the  missionaries  interpreted  his  inquiiy. 
He  asked,  "  Who  is  that  Wonderful  Person  ?  How  can  I  learn  more 
about  Him  ?  "     I  had  been  speaking  of  the  earh^  ministry  of  our  Lord 


104  The  World's  Conquest. 

and  of  His  contact  with  young  men.  It  appeared  that  the  youth  liad 
never  clearly  heard  of  the  Savioui-,  and  my  address,  being  directed  to 
Christians,  had  not  explained  His  divine  character,  nor  had  he  retained 
His  name ;  so,  like  the  old  prophet,  he  called  Him  "  Wonderful "  — 
"that  Wonderful  Person."  He  was  invited  to  attend  the  Bible  class 
conducted  by  one  of  the  missionaries,  and  when  I  next  visited  Osaka  I 
heard  that  the  young  man  was  learning  that  He  whom  he  called  "Won- 
derful ■"  is  "  the  Mighty  God,  the  Everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of 
Peace."  The  mission  of  the  Association  will  have  been  fulfilled  when 
the  name  and  work  of  that  Wonderful  Person  shall  have  been  declared 
to  every  young  man  throughout  the  world.  The  fulfillment  of  this  mis- 
sion calls  for  two  bands  of  consecrated  men  : 

First,  men  to  go.  A  limited  number  of  men  are  needed  who  can 
go  to  the  front  and  hold  the  most  important  centers  of  influence,  the 
universities.  Men  of  high  intellectual  and  still  higher  spiritual  charac- 
ter are  demanded  by  the  missionaries.  These  men  should  identify 
themselves  as  closely  as  possible  with  the  students  of  the  different 
colleges.  They  should  cultivate  an  intimate  personal  acquaintance  with 
the  students,  gradually  develop  the  little  bands  of  professing  Christians 
in  the  work  of  reaching  their  fellows,  and  eventually  unite  them  in  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  and  prosecute  the  work  as  far  as 
possible  after  the  Western  idea.  The  men  who  attempt  this  work 
must  enter  it  in  the  spirit  of  William  Carey;  they  must,  with  him, 
"attempt  great  things  for  God  and  expect  great  things  from  God." 
Henry  Martyn  used  to  say  that  he  would  be  no  more  surprised  to  see  a 
dead  body  resurrected  than  to  see  a  high  caste  Hindu  regenerated. 
The  men  who  succeed  in  India  and  throughout  Asia  in  this  work  must 
expect  that  He  who  raised  Lazarus  from  the  dead  will  also  raise  to  life 
these  dead  Orientals  from  their  spiritual  graves.  They  must  believe  that 
"  The  hour  is  coming,  and  now  is,  when  the  dead  shall  hear  the  voice 
of  the  Son  of  God :  and  they  that  hear  shall  live."  Such  faith  as  this 
will  be  rewarded  by  the  raising  up  of  a  multitude  of  young  men  who 
will  do  more  for  the  evangelization  of  their  countries  than  foreigners 
alone  can  ever  accomplish. 

Secondly,  men  to  send.  There  is  needed  a  large  band  of  men  who, 
while  possessing  the  spirit  of  obedience  which  takes  men  to  the  front, 
are  willing  to  remain  at  the  base  of  supplies,  and  give  to  the  support  of 
this  foreign  work  until  they  feel  the  saci'ifice  of  giving  as  keenly  as  the 
others  feel  the  sacrifice  of  going. 

Given  two  such  bands  of  "men  whose  hearts  God  has  touched," 
and  a  movement  can  be  inaugurated  at  the  educational  centers  in  non- 
Christian  lands  before  the  old  century  closes  which  will,  I  believe,  insure 
the  evangelization  of  the  world  long  before  the  new  century  shall  have 
I'un  its  course. 


FOURTH  DAY,  SATURDAY,  MARCH  3,  1894. 

Morning  Session. 

The    devotional    exercises   were    led   by   the    Rev.   H.   P.   Beach. 

Mr.  Mott  said  :  — 

There  has  come  a  veiy  strong  request  that  Dr.  Pierson  speak  upon 
the  watchword  of  the  Movement :  "  The  Evangelization  of  the  World  in 
this  Generation,"  because  of  the  special  emphasis  he  has  been  giving  to 
this  important  keynote  during  the  past  two  years. 

The  Evaxgelizatiox  ok  the  World  in  this  Generatiox. 

Dr.  Arthur  T.  Pierson,  Editor-in-Chief  of  the  Missionary  Review 
of  the  World,  addi-essed  the  Convention  as  follows  :  — 

Beloved  brethren  and  fellow-students  and  fellow-evangelists,  all 
through  the  history  of  the  Church  of  God  some  of  the  true  sayings  of 
God  have  become  the  signal-cry  and  the  trumpet- peal  of  the  forward 
movement.  In  the  apostolic  days  there  were  five  words  in  the  Greek 
which  had  more  continual  and  incessant  use  than  almost  any  others. 
And  some  think  when  Paul  said  he  would  rather  speak  five  words  with 
his  understanding  than  ten  thousand  words  in  an  unknoAvn  tongue,  he 
referred  to  the  five  words  that  almost  immediately  succeed  this  utter- 
ance :  "  Christ  died  for  our  sins."  When  Luther  stepped  out  from  the 
convent  gates  and  sounded  the  clarion  peal  of  the  great  Reformation, 
there  were  these  words,  alike  from  the  Greek  Testament,  that  became 
to  him  the  rallying  ciy :  "  The  just  shall  live  by  faith."  It  is  a  curious 
fact  that  just  eight  hundred  years  ago  this  year  1894,  Peter  the  Hermit, 
that  emaciated  dwarf,  reduced  to  a  skeleton  by  his  austerities,  swept 
over  Europe  north  of  the  Alps  and  roused  the  Teutonic  tribes  for  the 
first  assault  on  the  Saracens  by  two  words  taken  from  the  Vulgate, 
'<■  Beus  Vult:' 

There  never  was  a  movement  in  history  more  directly  traceable  to 
the  Father  of  us  all  than  this  Student  Volunteer  Movement.  What  is 
the  origin  of  that  magnificent  motto  which  is  emblazoned  before  you  : 
"  The  evangelization  of  the  world  in  this  generation  ?  "  Do  you  know 
what  the  genesis  of  that  motto  is?  Acts  13:  36  —  seven  words  in  the 
Greek  —  supplied  me  twenty  years  ago  with  this  motto  : 

iMq.  yeveq.   VTnjpeTrjcras  ry   roO  Qeov  povXy. 


106  The  World's  Conquest. 

"  To  his  own  generation  rendering  service  under  the  will  of  God," 
That  is  the  genesis  of  this  motto.  The  seed  is  the  Word  of  God. 
Nature's  great  treasiu-e  is  the  seed,  hiding  the  secret  of  her  vitality, 
hiding  the  secret  of  her  fertility,  hiding  within  itself  the  whole  harvest 
that  is  to  come.  And  the  seed  is  the  Word  of  God.  There  has  never 
been  any  great  movement  of  the  Church  that  has  not  found  its  germinal 
suggestion  in  the  sa^dngs  of  the  Word. 

I  want  to  fix  your  attention  this  morning  on  the  woi'ds  of  God : 
"  To  his  own  generation  rendering  service  under  the  will  of  God." 
And  you  must  connect  that  thu-ty-sixth  verse  ^^dth  the  twenty-second 
that  precedes,  if  you  would  get  the  full  significance  of  it :  "  I  have 
found  a  man  after  mine  own  heart,  who  shall  fulfill  all  my  will." 
Take  those  two  together  and  you  have  not  only  the  genesis  of  this  mag- 
nificent motto,  but  you  have  the  inspu-ation,  until  it  shall  end,  for  the 
work  of  evangelizing  the  world.  Now,  before  I  go  further  I  want  to 
call  your  attention  to  this  remarkable  man,  David,  with  regard  to  whom 
these  words  were  written  :  "  I  have  found  David  the  son  of  Jesse,  a  man 
after  mine  own  heart,  which  shall  fulfill  all  my  will."  Now,  notwith- 
standing the  one  great  blemish  on  David's  character  and  life,  he  was 
perhaps  the  most  remarkable  man  of  which  the  Old  Testament  gives  us 
a  glimpse,  not  even  excepting  Moses.  He  was  a  lawgiver  equal  to 
Moses,  a  general  equal  to  Joshua,  a  prophet  equal  to  Isaiah,  a  poet  sur- 
passing any  poet  of  ancient  times,  even  Homer :  a  man  that  took  a 
dismembered  country  at  its  worst  and  brought  it  to  its  highest,  and  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  splendid  and  imperial  glory  of  Solomon,  his  suc- 
cessor,—  that  was  David,  a  man  after  God's  own  heart,  who  carried  out 
God's  purposes.  And  that  which  especially  draws  me  to  this  text  of 
Scripture,  as  the  suggested  motto  of  our  great  modern  Movement,  is  the 
fact  also  that  David  was  undoubtedly  the  type  of  the  militant  Church 
of  Christ  in  this  dispensation.  Look  at  those  three  forty-year  reigns. 
They  stand  apart  and  alone  in  history  as  typical :  Saul's  reign  of  forty 
years,  typical  of  the  Jewish  dispensation,  ending  in  disastrous  failure  and 
apostasy  and  national  suicide ;  David's  reign,  the  reign  of  the  militant 
Church,  anointed  in  secret,  wai-ring  against  the  foes  of  God,  and  pre- 
paring the  way  for  the  triumphant  reign  of  the  Church  under  the  im- 
perial glory  of  the  Prince  of  Peace.  No  wonder  God  could  call 
our  attention  to  a  motto  which  clusters  around  David,  the  type  of  the 
militant  Church,  when  he  would  teach  us  the  evangelization  of  the 
world  in  our  generation. 

I  want  to  impress  the  Divine  personality  upon  you,  and  the  mes- 
sage that  comes  to  you  from  God  down  through  the  ages.  I  pray  you 
just  to  take  up  this  motto  and  let  us  analyze  it :  "  To  his  own  genera- 
tion rendering  service  under  the  will  of  God."  Now,  we  have  four 
thoughts  here  plainly  :    (1)  Sovereignty  —  God.    (2)  Service — Serving. 


The  World's  Conquest.  107 

(3)  The  Secret  of  Success  and  the  Signal  for  Movement  —  the  Will 
of  God.     (4)  The  Sphere  of  the  Service  —  His  Own  Generation. 

Sovereignty  —  God.  What  is  a  disciple?  A  disciple  is  one  who 
calls  Jesus  Saviour  and  Lord.  And  no  man  can  call  Jesus  Christ 
Saviour  and  Lord  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost ;  for  when  you  call  Jesus 
Saviour  and  Lord,  you  are  the  wandering  star  that  has  left  its  stray 
path  and  wheeled  into  the  orbit  around  the  Sun  of  Righteousness. 
You  have  come  to  submit  yourselves  now  to  the  righteousness  of 
God,  and  henceforth  to  be  an  orb  in  an  orT)it,  not  a  wanderuig  star 
in  the  path  of  darkness,  increasing  in  distance  from  the  central  Sun, 
and  rushing  on  to  everlasting  death.  Jesus  Christ  has  come  and  stood 
at  the  door  of  j'^our  heart,  and  knocked  and  knocked,  and  you  have 
opened  the  door,  and  you  have  committed  to  Him  the  keys  of  the 
whole  mansion,  and  there  is  nothing  henceforth  locked  against  the 
Master.  Sovereignty  acknowledged,  confessed,  submitted  to  —  that 
is  the  first  condition  of  service.  No  man  can  ever  serve  until  he 
has  a  master.  Nor  can  he  ever  serve  until  he  has  acknowledged  his 
master.  Nor  can  he  ever  serve  so  long  as  he  seeks  to  have  two  mas- 
ters antagonistic  to  each  other.  One  general-in-chief  is  enough  for  a 
battlefield ;  and  counter  order,  as  Napoleon  said,  is  disorder. 

Service  —  Serving.  Now,  I  want  you  to  fix  your  attention  for  a 
moment  upon  the  ideal  or  concej^tion  of  service.  Look  at  the  word;  it 
means,  to  act  as  an  under-rower.  It  suggests  the  ancient  galleys  with 
their  banks  of  oars,  each  oarsman  at  his  seat :  one,  two,  three,  or  fom* 
banks  of  sailors,  each  holding  an  oar,  —  under-roAvers,  not  only  because 
some  of  them  may  have  occupied  the  lower  seats,  but  because  they  were 
all  under  the  control  of  the  pilot,  obejdng  his  glance,  his  signal.  At  his 
glance  the  oars  fall,  dip  and  di*ip,  move  foi'ward  and  backward,  and  so 
propel  the  galley.  Now,  what  is  the  service  to  which  we  are  called? 
It  is  all  embraced  in  one  word  —  "  evano-elization."  What  is  evangfeliza- 
tion  ?  It  has  been  defined  as  carrying  the  Gospel  to  the  lost.  That 
does  not  exhaust  evangelization.  I  pray  you  to  notice,  evangeUzation  is 
not  simply  bringing  the  Gospel  of  salvation  into  contact  with  the  un- 
saved, but  it  is  bringmg  that  Gospel  into  contact,  by  the  touch  of  a  be- 
lieving soul,  —  that  is,  it  is  the  Gospel,  carried  by  the  angel  or 
messeno;er  of  God.  Evangelization  includes  two  thino-s :  the  work  of  a 
herald,  which  is  simply  proclamation,  and  the  work  of  a  AA-itness,  Avhich 
is  testimony.  The  herald  may  tell  a  story  or  announce  a  message  of  the 
truth  of  which  he  knows  nothing  and  in  the  interest  of  which  he  is  not 
at  all  involved.  But  when  a  A\atness  speaks,  he  speaks  that  he  knows, 
testifies  that  he  has  seen,  and  incarnates  experience  in  testimony.  And, 
therefore,  when  God  was  evangelizing  this  world,  he  did  not  call  upon 
myi-iads  of  angels,  or  principalities,  or  powers,  or  thrones.  No,  no ! 
We  may  be  poor  preachers,  but  we  are  better  preacheis  than  Gabriel. 


108  The  World's  Conqukst. 

"Never  did  angels  taste  above. 
Redeeming  grace  and  dying  love." 

So  God  crowded  angels  back  and  thrust  the  believers  forward.  We 
can  say,  "  We  are  sinners  saved  by  grace."  Gabriel  can't  say  that ;  and 
we  have  the  advantage  of  Gabriel  in  preaching  the  Gospel  to  dying  men , 
That  is  evangelization.  It  is  the  Gospel  with  the  man  behind  the  Gos- 
pel, believing  the  Gospel :  it  is  the  Gospel  of  God  reinforced  by  the  man 
of  God.  It  is  the  Spirit  in  the  Word,  reinforced  by  the  Spirit  in  the 
man  that  preaches  the  Word. 

Don't  any  of  you  go  to  the  foreign  field  or  the  home  field  unless 
you  have  the  consciousness  of  being  a  converted  man.  That  is  the 
first  of  all  conditions  of  successful  evangelization.  I  want  you  to  notice 
how  simple  this  matter  of  evangelization  is.  I  have  heard  a  great  deal 
in  this  and  other  conventions  about  the  respective  claims  of  education 
and  evangelization  with  reference  to  work  among  the  heathen.  Do 
you  know,  I  think  there  is  a  great  deal  of  unnecessary  discussion  upon 
this  whole  subject.  Our  gracious  Lord  anticipated  this  discussion  and 
settled  it  in  advance.  What  did  He  say  ?  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world, 
make  disciples  of  all  nations,  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things 
whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you."  The  work  of  discipling  first,  and 
that  of  teaching  following.  And  more  than  that,  those  of  you  who 
understand  the  genius  of  the  Greek  tongue  know  that  the  imperative 
represents  the  dominant  and  emphatic  sentiment  and  the  i)articiple  the 
subordinate  one.  Jesus  Christ  made  the  great  burden  of  this  the  mak- 
ing of  disciples,  and  the  subordinate  clause  is  "teach."  Now,  my 
brethren,  your  business  is  to  go  and  tell  the  Gospel  story,  reinforced  by 
yom-  experience,  and  make  disciples.  Then  you  can  enter  upon  the 
larger  work  of  teaching  them ;  and  even  then  it  is  to  be  teaching  along 
the  lines  of  Christ  and  His  Gospel. 

I  want  you  to  notice  the  simplicity  of  evangelization.  It  has  been 
a  great  revelation  to  me  in  the  tenth  chapter  of  Romans  to  see  how 
wonderfully  and  beautifully  the  whole  subject  is  set  forth.  Hear  the 
series  of  questions  of  the  Apostle  Paul :  "  How  then  shall  they  call  on 
Him  in  whom  they  have  not  believed  ?  and  how  shall  they  believe  in 
Him  of  whom  they  have  not  heard  ?  and  how  shall  they  hear  without 
a  preacher  ? "  Notice  the  steps  in  the  argument.  "  With  the  heart 
man  believeth  unto  righteousness  ;  and  with  the  mouth  confession  is 
made  unto  salvation."  Now,  if  you  will  study  that  tenth  chapter  of 
Romans  you  will  find  the  whole  plan  of  the  world's  evangelization  set 
before  you.  Notice  the  divine  simplicity.  First,  that  the  Gospel  should 
come  to  the  ear,  and  be  heard  through  the  ear,  and  reach  the  heart  that 
believes ;  from  the  heart  should  come  to  the  lips  that  confess.  That  is 
all  there  is  about  it :  the  heai-ing  ear,  the  believing  heart,  the  witness- 
ing mouth ;  then  that  witnessing  mouth  becomes  the  vehicle  by  Avhich 


The  World's  Conquest.  109 

the  Gospel  reaches  another  tliat  hears,  another  lieart  that  believes, 
another  nioutli  tliat  confesses.  And  so,  from  lip  to  ear,  from  ear  to 
heart,  from  heart  to  lip,  from  lip  to  ear,  from  ear  to  heart,  from  heart 
to  lip  —  that  is  the  Apostolic  Succession.  And,  my  beloved  brethren, 
if  there  is  one  of  us  all  that,  having  heard  and  believed,  does  not  witness, 
we  break  the  Apostolic  Succession  as  far  as  we  are  concerned.  How 
easily  and  rapidly  the  world  might  have  been  brought  to  the  knowledge 
of  Jesus  Christ  if  on  the  heart  of  every  believer  was  impressed  this 
duty  !  You  have  no  right  to  hear  and  believe  without  testifying ;  your 
testifpng  is  evangelizing,  and  that  is  God's  way  of  reaching  the  millions 
of  the  earth's  ])opulation. 

Then,  besides  the  simplicitj,  look  at  the  certitude  that  must  exist  in 
the  evangelist.  We  have  fallen  on  an  age  of  doubt.  Now,  for  myself, 
I  would  not  give  you  a  farthing  for  a  doubting  ])reacher.  Even 
Emerson,  who  did  not  claim  to  be  a  Christian  believer,  says,  "  What  the 
world  wants  is  not  yom*  negations,  it  is  your  positions."  I  advise  you 
to  tell  people  what  you  know.  If  you  attempt  to  tell  them  what  you 
don't  know  you  will  go  over  a  wide  ground.  What  the  world  wants 
is  your  knowledge,  however  limited,  and  not  your  ignorance,  however 
extensive.  In  other  words,  we  are  sent  forth  to  testify  that  which  we 
know,  nothing  else.  Confine  yourselves  to  the  things  you  know.  If 
there  is  a  thing  about  which  you  are  uncertain,  keep  it  to  yourself  until 
you  arrive  at  a  certainty,  and  then  give  your  certainties  to  the  race. 
Hear  Goethe  out  of  the  depth  of  skepticism  say,  "In  God's  name  give 
us  convictions;  as  to  doubts,  we  have  plenty  of  our  own."  Spurgeon 
says,  "  There  are  a  great  many  people  of  this  age  who  think  they  are 
great  because  they  doubt.  Now,"  he  says,  "  it  may  be  a  great  thing  to 
doubt,  but  it  is  a  greater  thing  to  hold  your  tongue  until  you  get  rid  of 
your  doubts."  I  am  sm-prised  at  the  extent  to  which  even  ministers  of 
the  Gospel  to-day  are  using  the  pulpit  as  the  vehicle  for  spreading 
then-  own  questionings  on  the  Word  of  God.  By  all  means,  brethren, 
go  with  a  ]>ositive  Gospel,  reincarnated  in  the  experience  of  the  believ- 
ing soul ;  for  it  is  the  man  after  God's  own  heart  only  that  is  going  to 
fulfill  all  the  Word  of  God  in  his  own  generation. 

Now,  I  want  you  to  pause  with  me,  and  consider  this  tliu'd  element 
to  which  I  have  referred  and  which  I  specially  ^dsh  to  impress,  and 
that  is, — the  Will  of  God.  What  is  the  will  but  the  center  of  being  ? 
What  is  God's  will  but  God  himself,  the  very  center  of  the  vitality  and 
the  activity  of  God  ?  What  is  yom*  vnll  but  the  center  of  yom*  vitality 
and  yom'  activity?  Now,  catch  this  sublime  conception,  that  just  as 
soon  as  the  wandering  star  wheels  into  an  orbit  around  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness,  just  so  soon  as  the  keys  of  yom'  kingdom  are  committed 
to  the  King  of  Kings,  and  your  little  empire  becomes  a  part  of  His 
more  glorious  and  universal  empire,  from  that  moment,  let  me  say  it 


110  The  World's  Conquest, 

with  great  reverence,  the  human  soul  is  welded  with  the  divine,  and 
there  comes  to  be  a  sublime  unity  and  identity  between  the  child  of 
God  and  God  Himself  —  the  will  of  the  servant  merged  into  the  will 
of  the  Master.  Let  me  guard  myself  more  closely  than  to  use  that 
word  merge.  I  think  it  is  a  great  mistake  that  we  should  imagine  that 
in  being  dedicated  to  the  service  of  Christ  we  lose  our  own  will.  You 
want  a  will,  all  the  will  you  can  get ;  don't  surrender  any  will.  Let 
me  illustrate.  I  have  a  friend  out  in  New  England  who  has  a  small 
farm,  and  a  small  mill-race  upon  it,  and  a  water-wheel.  His  mill-race 
is  very  deficient  in  water;  it  sometimes  almost  dries  up  so  that  he  can't 
turn  his  water-wheel ;  so  he  got  permission  from  a  friend  to  tap  a  river 
that  runs  through  his  friend's  premises.  Now,  night  and  day,  week 
after  week,  year  after  year,  there  is  no  cessation  to  the  activity  of  his 
factory.  My  brethren,  you  have  got  a  little  sluice,  and  your  wheel 
sometimes  proves  to  be  quite  inadequate  to  the  work  you  want  to  do. 
Tap  the  river  of  God,  and  run  the  everlasting  stream  through  jour 
sluice-way.  You  will  not  give  up  the  water  that  is  in  it,  but  you  will 
get  God's  flood ;  the  wheels  of  love  will  never  stop  turning,  and  the 
activities  of  life  will  never  cease.  Identify  yourselves  with  God.  The 
sphere  is  of  little  consequence,  the  work  is  of  minor  importance ;  but 
the  subjection  to  the  sovereignty  of  God,  and  the  fulfillment  of  the 
purpose  of  God  —  these  are  the  grand  questions  of  life  and  death. 
Let  us  linger  on  this  thought;  we  cannot  afford  to  dismiss  it  yet  — 
identity  between  the  Master  and  servant.  Now,  see  in  the  first  place 
how  much  authority  it  gives.  What  vast  strength  lay  behind  the  weak- 
ness of  David  when,  without  any  armor,  with  nothing  but  his  sling 
and  the  stones  from  the  brook,  he  came  up  to  that  boastful  giant  of 
the  Philistines,  and  said,  "  Thou  comest  to  me  with  a  sword,  and  with 
a  spear,  and  with  a  shield :  but  I  come  to  thee  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
of  hosts,  the  God  of  the  armies  of  Israel,  whom  thou  hast  defied."  And 
look  what  power  prayer  gives  :  "  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  the  Father 
in  my  name  He  will  give  it  you."  Now,  just  as  surely  as  you  are 
identified  with  God,  just  so  surely  as  His  will  pours  through  the  chan- 
nels by  which  your  will  affects  yom-  activity,  your  will  is  His  will,  your 
plan  is  His  plan,  your  activity  is  His  activity.  And  so  the  Prince  Con- 
sort Albert  never  said  a  wiser  thing  than  this  :  "  Find  out  the  plan  of 
God  in  your  generation.  Do  not  cross  His  plan,  but  drop  into  your 
own  place  in  its  marvellous  mechanism."  That  is  the  secret  of  all 
success.  See  how  secure  it  makes  a  man  to  be  thus  leagued  with  God ! 
No  wonder  the  Apostle  Paul  says,  in  the  marvellous  eighth  chapter  of 
Romans,  which  is  the  climax  of  the  whole  Epistle,  "  We  know  that  all 
things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God,  to  them  who  are 
the  called  according  to  His  purpose." 


The  Wokld's  Conquest.  Ill 

Again,  can  there  any  collision  come  in  a  system  where  all  the  planets 
move  about  God  ?  Is  any  possibility  of  disaster  to  be  discerned  in  an 
harmonious  system  over  which  God  presides?  When  the  Prince  of 
Orange  was  on  the  battle-field,  and  one  of  his  subordinate  officers  was 
exposing  himself  needlessly  to  the  shot  and  shell  of  the  enemy,  he  said, 
"  Retii'e  from  this  place,  sir ;  you  are  exposing  yourself."  The  officer 
said,  "  I  can  afford  to  expose  myself  where  my  sovereign  exposes  him- 
self." "  No,  you  cannot,  sir.  Duty  calls  me,  but  it  does  not  call  you 
here."  And  before  the  words  were  out  of  the  Prince's  mouth  the 
shell  had  taken  off  the  officer's  head.  When  you  are  on  the  battle- 
field where  God  places  you,  stand  by  your  guns,  and  have  no  s])irit  of 
doubt  or  fear;  you  are  safe  though  ten  thousand  foes  surround  you. 
One  with  God,  as  Mr.  Taylor  said,  is  the  majority.  Be  in  the  minority, 
if  you  please,  humanly  speaking  ;  but  every  man  is  in  the  majority  when 
on  God's  side, —  as  omnipotent  as  Jesus  Christ  is  omnipotent.  His 
finiteness  is  equal  to  infiniteness,  and  his  tempoi-alities  to  the  eternities 
of  God.     Absolute  secm-ity  and  therefore  absolute  peace. 

I  wish  I  were  in  a  j^rivate  gathering  this  morning,  where  I  could 
speak  with  flowing  heart  and  eyes  to  my  brethren  about  the  most 
precious  lesson  God  has  ever  taught  me.  In  the  years  of  my  ministry 
I  have  always  been  a  worrying  man,  full  of  care  and  anxiety.  Before 
the  work  was  done  I  worried  lest  it  should  not  be  done,  and  afterwards 
because  it  was  not  done  as  well  as  it  might  have  been.  I  bless  God  that 
for  five  years  I  have  not  known  one  hour  of  worrying.  The  reason  is 
this :  I  use  to  think  I  was  doing  work,  and  I  was  trying  to  make  that 
work  come  into  unity  with  the  work  of  God  and  help  God  along  with  His 
work.  Then  I  came  to  a  maturer  conception  than  that,  for  I  thought  I 
was  working  for  God,  and  so  I  might  call  God  to  my  help.  But  at  last  it 
dawned  upon  me  that  neither  of  those  conceptions  is  correct,  that  God 
is  the  only  worker  in  the  universe,  and  that  I  am  an  instrument  through 
whom  He  pleases  to  work.  He  has  a  right  to  take  me  up  and  lay  me 
down ;  and  I  should  just  as  well  be  satisfied  to  be  laid  down  as  to  be 
taken  up,  if  I  understand  my  Master.  I  am  the  saw  that  moves  to  and 
fro,  and,  as  I  said  the  other  day,  I  cannot  sharpen  my  own  teeth  or  set 
them,  or  move  myself  to  and  fro.  I  am  the  hammer  that  He  must  fm*- 
nish  for  His  work,  and  I  am  the  vessel  that  He  must  mould.  Let  Him 
break  me  if  need  be,  that  He  shall  make  me  more  according  to  His 
divine  purpose,  and  then  fill  me  with  His  grace,  and  then  bear  me  as 
the  vessel  that  is  to  bear  His  precious  water  of  life.  And  ever  since  I 
came  from  under  the  power  of  that  conception  I  have  not  known  an 
hour  of  worry.  When  the  great  toils  and  triumphs  and  experiences  and 
responsibilities  of  the  Metropolitan  Tabernacle  were  thrown  upon  my 
shoulders,  and  that  wonderful  man  of  God  was  borne  away  to  the 
heavenly  mansions,  I  found  myself  confronting  five  or  six  thousand 


112  The  World's  Conquest. 

bereaved  people.  I  said,  "  I  didn't  put  myself  here  ;  I  was  put  here  of 
God.  Thou  must  stand  by  me  now,  because  Thou  hast  put  me  here." 
And  He  never  failed  me  for  an  instant,  and  I  never  had  a  wakeful  half 
hour  nor  five  minutes  of  worry. 

My  brethren,  there  is  the  secret  of  peace.  It  is  very  likely  that  I 
shall  never  speak  to  you  again,  that  we  shall  never  meet  in  a  compre- 
hensive assembly  like  this.  Now,  hear  my  dying  testimony.  There  is 
a  freedom  from  worry,  from  anxiety,  there  is  a  peace  that  passeth  all 
understanding,  and  the  secret  of  it  is  this  :  "  Be  careful  for  nothing ;  but 
in  everything,  by  prayer  and  supplication  with  thanksgiving,  let  your 
requests  be  made  known  unto  God."  Get  into  the  plan  of  God ;  main- 
tain a  fellowship)  with  Him  that  is  daily  and  hourly  siistahied.  Let 
everything  else  go,  but  do  not  lose  hold  on  Him.  Let  every  external 
root  be  broken,  but  do  not  let  the  tap-root  be  imperilled.  Get  into  and 
keep  in  touch  with  God,  and  there  is  nothing  that  can  disturb  the 
serenity  of  your  conscience  or  the  overwhelming  peace  of  your  conscious 
abiding  in  God. 

Success  is  assured  to  the  man  that  is  identified  with  God.  I  just 
said  that  we  ought  to  be  careful  for  nothing.  Carefulness  is  not  only 
unnecessary  but  sinful,  for  this  is  God's  work  and  you  are  only  an  in- 
strument. Who  is  responsible  for  the  work ?  You?  Not  at  all.  God. 
Throw  the  responsibility  upon  Him  and  do  not  you  be  impertinent 
enough  to  worry  about  His  work ;  He  can  take  care  of  that  work  and 
of  you  too,  and  you  need  not  be  at  all  alarmed  or  dismayed  or  troubled 
about  it. 

Hear  that  wonderful  sentiment  of  Faber,  who  must  have  lived  close 
to  God  ever  to  have  written  that  hymn  :  — 

"  I  worship  thee,  sweet  will  of  God! 
And  all  thy  ways  adore; 
And  every  day  I  live,  I  seem 
To  love  thee  more  and  more. 

"  He  always  wins  who  sides  with  God, 
To  him  no  chance  is  lost; 
God's  will  is  sweetest  to  him  when 
It  triumphs  at  his  cost. 

"  111  that  He  blesses  is  our  good, 
And  unblest  good  is  ill; 
And  all  is  right  that  seems  most  wrong, 
If  it  be  His  sweet  will." 

Look  what  serenity,  what  everlasting  peace,  comes  to  a  human  soul 
when  the  everlasting  arms  are  under  that  soul,  and  when  the  harmonies 
of  the  universe  are  contributing  to  the  success  of  the  servant's  endeavor 
for  his  Master ! 


The  World's  Conquest.  113 

Now,  dear  friends,  just  as  this  identity  with  God  implies  this  author- 
ity and  this  success  and  this  security  and  this  peace,  so  it  implies  har- 
mony with  your  fellowman.  Notice  again  how  sweetly  this  sentiment 
explains  the  under-rower.  Plere  sits  the  oarsman  underneath.  He 
cannot  see  even  the  oarsmen  in  front  of  him ;  he  cannot  see  the  man 
before  or  behind  him ;  he  simply  can  see  the  handle  of  his  own  oar, 
and  looking  up  through  the  opening  can  see  the  beck  or  glance  of  the 
pilot.  He  does  not  see  the  oarsmen  on  the  other  side  ;  but,  at  the 
glance  or  beck  of  him  that  controls  the  galley,  up  goes  the  oar,  down 
falls  its  blade,  forward,  backward  its  motion,  and  the  galley  is  pro- 
pelled. Now,  what  is  the  secret  of  harmonj-  with  other  beings  ?  That 
I  shall  be  in  harmony  with  my  God.  And  you  need  not  trouble  yourself 
about  the  harmony  of  the  Church  of  God,  or  your  co-operation  with 
other  laborers.  Co-operation  with  other  servants  of  God  depends  upon 
subordination  to  God,  the  Divine  Pilot.  "  If  two  of  you  shall  agree 
on  earth  as  touching  anything  that  they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  for 
them  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven."  Most  people  understand  the 
word  agreement  to  mean  simply  an  arbitrary  covenant  agreement  be- 
tween disciples.  It  is  far  from  that.  Suppose  we  agree  to  come 
together  to-day  at  twelve  o'clock  to  pray  for  something ;  will  we  have 
it  ?  It  will  depend  upon  whether  that  agreement  was  formed  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  or  without  Him.  The  word  "  agreement "  in  the  Greek 
means  symphony.  Suppose  I  lay  my  hand  carelessly  on  the  keys  of 
an  instrument,  do  I  get  accord,  do  I  get  harmony  ?  Why,  my  breth- 
ren, I  may  get  fearful  discord  instead  of  harmony.  But  suppose  a  mas- 
ter musician  comes  up  and  touches  the  first,  third,  and  fifth  of  a  chord, 
then  we  have  harmony.  I  understand  that  the  symphony  to  which  the 
Lord  refers  is  the  agreement  produced  by  the  touch  of  the  Spirit  of 
God.  The  Church  is  the  instrument,  and  He  lays  His  hand  deftly  on 
its  keys  and  brings  out  harmonies.  That  is  to  say,  you  may  be  in  Japan 
and  I  in  Connecticut,  and  we  may  be  moved  to  pray  for  the  same 
thing  at  the  same  hom-.  We  have  never  seen  each  other  or  agreed 
together  by  covenants,  but  the  Spirit  touches  both,  and  out  of  these  ac- 
cordant notes  there  come  these  divine  harmonies  of  Christ.  So  we 
work  for  Christ.  The  oarsman  at  the  galley  has  only  to  obey  the  sig- 
nal of  his  pilot,  and  the  vessel,  which  otherwise  by  discordant  move- 
ments might  be  hindered  from  going  forward,  is  swept  on  its  course. 
God  is  the  Governor  and  controls  the  whole  system  of  evangelization. 
All  you  have  to  do  is  to  sweep  into  your  own  place  and  try  to  fill  out 
the  measure  of  your  duty,  and  leave  the  grand  co-operation  of  the 
world  to  be  determined  by  the  harmony  of  other  souls  ^dth  the  divine 
purpose. 

I  think  it  is  very  wonderful  how  comparative  history  shows  to  us 
certain  synchronous  development  in  different  lands.     We  see  it  in  the 


114  Thk  World's  Coxquest, 

Acts   of  the  Apostles :    Philip  directed  towards  the  eunuch,  and  the 
eunuch  directed  towards  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  and  the  eunuch  directed 
towards  Philip.     Go  all  through  the  history  of  missions  and  you  will 
find  this  everywhere  repeated.     Barnabas  Shaw  going  north  toward 
the   center  of  Africa,  the   Kaffir  tribe  going   southward  towards  the 
Cape  to  find  a  missionary,  and  both  Shaw  and  the  Kaffir  tribe  meeting 
at  the  very  nick  of  time  according  to  the  providence  of  God.     Judson 
driven  from  India  and  Burmah,  and  the  Karens  waiting  for  the  white 
man  to  come  and  reveal  the  mysteries  of  the  Book  that  their  tradition 
embalms    as    containing   the    secrets    of    salvation.     All   through  the 
history  of  missions  nothing  has  amazed  and  astonished  me  more  than 
the  marvellous  jDlan  of  God,  reaching  over  the  whole  world-wide  field, 
reaching  over  whole  ages  of  history,  and  proving  a  Divine  providence 
by  the  consenting  and  simultaneous  movements  taking  place  in  differ- 
ent lands  without  any  possibility  of  collusion  on  the  part  of  the  agents. 
Now,  I  want  to  come  to  the  fourth  division  of  my  subject,  and  that 
is  the  Sphere  of  Service  —  His  Own  Generation.     Why  is  the  genera- 
tion emphasized  ?     "  Serving  his  own  generation  by  the  will  of  God." 
Why,  my  beloved  brethren,  your  service  is  in  the  sphere  of  a  genera- 
tion.   What  is  a  generation  ?    A  generation  is  that  lapse  of  time  that 
extends  between  the  cradle  and  the  grave  for  the  average  population  of 
the  race.     Three  generations  pass  away  in  a  century.     A  generation 
covers  the  generating  of  the  population  during  the  period  of  a  mortal  ex- 
istence, and  their  continuance  on  the  sphere  of  their  mortal  experience 
—  thirty-three  years,  or  in  that  neighborhood.     Remark  that  that  was 
the  life  of  Christ,  and  that  that  was  the  period  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  as  though  to  show  you  what  could  be  done  by  one  generation 
when  the  spirit  of  God  dwelt  in  the  midst  of  God's  people.     Your  ser- 
vice is  to  your  generation.     You  cannot  affect  past  generations ;  your 
influence  does   not  move  backwards.     You  can   only  remotely  affect 
future  generations ;  and  the  best  way  to  serve  the  next  generation  is  to 
serve  this  generation  to  the  best  of  your  ability.     Lay  the  foundation 
for  the  usefulness  that  will  survive. 

Then  I  want  you  to  notice  that  you  are  particularly  a  part  and  par- 
cel of  the  human  family  now  existing  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  In  one 
sense  the  whole  race  is  one  family ;  but  there  is  a  peculiar  sense  of  unity 
with  regard  to  that  generation  of  which  jon  are  a  part.  You  are  living 
on  the  earth  now.  About  1,500,000,000  of  other  people  are  Hving  on 
the  earth  with  you.  You  came  into  existence  somewhere  about  the 
same  period  :  you  pass  out  of  existence  somewhere  about  the  same 
average  period.  It  is  an  awful  thought  to  me  that  while  I  am  speaking 
to  you,  if  I  should  have  consumed  an  hour,  3,600  souls  will  have  passed 
into  eternity  from  the  time  of  my  first  to  my  closing  word.  It  takes 
but  three  days  to  have  a  population  go  down  to  the  grave  equal  to  the 


The  World's  Conquest.  115 

entire  population  of  the  city  of  Detroit.  And  yet  we  stand  in  apathy 
and  lethargy  and  see  these  millions  going  down  to  the  grave,  and  we 
scarcely  appreciate  the  fact  that  the  whole  earth  is  depopulated  of  these 
1,500,000,000  inside  of  forty  years.  And  a  great  majority  of  them  go 
down  to  the  grave  without  Christ.  Now,  I  say,  in  the  name  of  God, 
that  the  one  great  obligation  that  you  owe  to  your  race  is  to  that  por- 
tion of  the  race  that  inhabits  the  world  together  with  yourselves.  They 
are  your  brothers  and  sisters  in  the  human  family,  and  to  them  the 
bread  you  have  in  excess  of  your  wants  shall  be  given,  whether  tem- 
poral bread  or  the  bread  of  life,  and  to  proclaim  the  Gospel  to  them, 
most  of  all,  is  your  great  duty  and  privilege. 

My  time  has  expired,  and  I  cannot  even  begin  what  I  have  laid  out  to 
say  upon  the  recognition  of  the  will  of  God.  But  just  let  me  say 
seven  words  that  I  want  you  to  note.  These  are  the  days  of  a  won- 
drous work  in  missions,  seven  great  wonders,  indicating  to  us  that  the 
fullness  of  time  has  come  to  evangelize  the  world  in  one  generation. 
What  are  those  seven  wonders  ?  These  —  I  mention  them ;  think  of 
them,  pray  over  them,  and  let  them  enter  like  roots  into  your  very 
being.  (1)  Woi-ld-wide  exploration.  (2)  World-wide  communication. 
(3)  World-wide  assimilation.  (4)  World-wide  civilization.  (5)  World- 
wide emancipation.  (6)  World-wide  preparation.  (7)  World-wide 
organization.  Seven  fingers  of  God  laid  on  the  work  of  evangel- 
ism, to  take  hold  of  it  with  the  grip  of  God  and  help  us  to  move  the 
world  inside  of  thirty  years  for  God.  Do  you  see  the  flaming,  flashing 
signals  on  the  horizon  ?  Do  you  read  the  signs  of  the  weather  in  the 
sunset  and  the  sunrise  ?  Don't  be  wiser  about  signs  of  the  weather  than 
you  are  about  the  signs  of  the  times.  Look  to  the  East,  and  the  West, 
and  the  North,  and  the  South,  and  see  the  aurora  borealis  lights  that 
are  pointing  to  the  zenith,  and  rouse  the  rising  soul  to  recognize  the 
fact  that  the  chalice  of  opportunity  is  filled  to  the  brim.  And  it  is 
your  privilege  to  come  up  with  your  little  cup  and  catch  the  overflow 
of  God's  purpose,  that  it  may  become  the  nectar  of  inspiration  for  the 
labor  of  your  life. 

Evening  Session. 

After  devotional  exercises,  Mr.  Robert  E.  Speer  said :  — 

Many  of  those  who  have  had  charge  of  the  established  missionary 
organizations,  and  who  were  somewhat  skeptical  about  the  Movement, 
have  come  to  believe  fully  in  what  is  represented  by  this  gathering.  I 
suppose  many  have  felt,  as  this  fact  has  come  to  them,  that  it  calls  for  a 
keener  scrutiny  of  the  foundations  on  which  this  Movement  rests.  The 
larger  popular  spnpathy  a  movement  gains,  the  larger  demands  does  it 


116  The  World's  Conquest. 

make  upon  those  who  are  connected  with  it  to  go  back  and  examine 
once  again  the  principles  upon  which  it  rests,  to  see  whether  or  not  they 
have  made  any  mistake.  And  I  suppose  many  thoughtful  students 
during  this  Convention  have  asked  themselves  whether,  tested  on  the 
only  touchstones  upon  which  they  care  to  test  their  life  service,  this 
Movement  to  which  they  have  given  their  lives  is  of  God.  I  presume 
many  of  us  have  been  asking  what  Christ  probably  thinks  about  it. 
We  don't  want  to  give  our  lives  to  anything  of  which  He  cannot 
wholly  and  heartily  approve.  And  we  have  been  thinking,  I  suppose, 
of  all  those  things  which  we  know  about  Him  that  would  indicate  to 
us,  however  slightly,  what  His  thoiight  about  it  must  be.  We  know 
that  He  loved  the  world ;  that  He  gave  himself  for  the  world ;  that 
with  an  infinite  stoop  of  condescension  He  left  the  glory  of  His  Father's 
presence  that  He  might  come  to  His  own,  —  to  be  cast  out,  buffeted, 
beaten,  despised,  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief,  at  last  to 
pour  out  His  priceless  blood  upon  the  cross  for  our  sins.  And  we  know 
that  this  love  of  His  included  every  man,  that  not  the  smallest  child 
was  left  out ;  and  that  wherever  in  this  world  there  is  a  human  heart, 
the  heart  of  Jesus  Christ  to-night  leans  down  over  it  in  love.  And  we 
recollect,  as  we  think  about  Him,  that  He  M'as  the  Son  of  a  King,  but  had 
nowhere  to  lay  His  head,  though  the  foxes  had  holes,  and  the  birds  of 
the  air  had  nests ;  and  that  the  great  j)assion  of  His  life  was  that  those 
who  professed  to  love  Him  might  walk  in  His  steps. 

Those  who  loved  Him  best  knew  most  of  this  desire ;  so  that  John 
wrote  in  his  First  Epistle  that  "  he  that  saith  he  abideth  in  Him  ought 
himself  also  so  to  walk,  even  as  He  walked ; "  and  Simon  Peter  wrote 
that  Jesus  left  us  an  example  of  suffering,  and  we  were  to  follow  in 
His  footsteps.  You  recollect  His  own  clear  words  :  "  If  any  man  will 
come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up  his  cross,  and  follow 
me."  "  If  any  man  come  to  me,  and  hate  not " —  that  is,  love  not  less  — 
"his  father,  and  mother,  and  wife,  and  childi'en,  and  brethren,  and 
sisters,  yea,  and  his  own  life  also,  he  cannot  be  my  disciple."  And  as 
we  mark  the  example  which  the  Lord  Christ  set  of  love,  and  the  ex- 
ample which  He  set  of  self-denying  service,  our  hearts  must  have  leaped 
within  us  as  we  recognize  in  the  life  that  this  Movement  sets  before  us 
the  possibility  of  repeating  again  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ;  and  our 
hearts  have  gladdened  as  the  conviction  deepened  that  if  there  be  one 
thing  in  the  world  to-day  that  does  please  Him,  it  must  be  to  see  a 
gathering  such  as  this. 

And  we  have  tested,  secondly,  the  purposes  that  have  grown  up  in 
our  lives  on  the  touchstone  of  what  the  world  Avould  think  about  it,  if 
it  knew  its  needs.  I  imagine  the  heart  of  heathendom  is  palpitating 
to-night,  as^it  catches  from  across  the  seas  the  promise  of  a  coming  re- 
demption.    I  imagine  that  if  the  one  hundred  and  sixty  million  dark 


The  World's  Conquest.  117 

forms  of  Africa  might  lift  up  tlieir  manacled  hands  they  would  give 
glad  welcome  to  those  to-day  whose  faces  are  turned  toward  "  the 
world's  open  sore."  If  the  one-sixth  of  tlie  population  of  the  world 
that  is  gathered  in  the  land  of  India  this  evening  would  speak  it  would 
speak  a  message  of  glad  acquiescence  too.  And  if  the  three  hundred 
million  people  of  China,  whom  your  watch-ticks  for  nine  and  half  years 
Avould  not  numbei",  might  see  and  hear  to-night,  they  too  would  be  glad 
that  God  has  laid  His  hand  in  these  latter  days  upon  a  mighty  host, 
adequate,  if  we  be  faithful  to  Him,  to  sweep  the  Gospel  tidings  arotmd 
the  world. 

Lastly,  we  look  in  our  own  hearts  and  are  thankful  for  the  tes- 
timony of  our  own  spiritual  lives  speaking  in  favor  of  this  Movement. 
I  can  remember  well,  seven  years  ago  this  spring,  when  the  message  of 
this  Movement  first  came  to  Princeton  and  reached  the  college  heart. 
It  not  only  wakened  a  richer  interest  in  the  woi'ld's  evangelization,  but 
aroused  a  warmer  and  tenderer  passion  for  Christ.  And  I  appeal  to 
your  own  hearts  to-night  to  tell  whether  every  closer  grip  of  this  Move- 
ment on  your  hearts  is  not  a  closer  touch  on  the  hand  of  Christ  as  well. 
If  Christ  approves,  if  the  world  calls,  if  the  best  interests  of  our  own 
spiritual  lives  give  assent,  why  are  we  not  under  obligations  to  spread 
this  Movement  through  this  land  ?  Why  is  it  not  worth  while  making 
sacrifices  for?  Why  not  lay  ourselves  out  with  all  our  might  for  its 
sake  —  the  cause  of  the  kingdom  of  God  ?  If  Jesus  Christ  were  im- 
prisoned in  Central  Africa,  and  a  message  were  brought  here  to-night 
that  He  was  there,  a  movement  would  spread  from  this  gathering  such 
as  would  sweep  into  it  the  life  of  every  Christian  young  man  and 
woman  in  this  land.  Why  is  not  Christ  in  prison  in  Africa?  Are  we 
not  told  that  there  are  manacled  hands  there  ?  Are  we  not  told  that 
the  doors  of  the  prison-house  have  not  been  opened  there  to  set  the 
captive  free  ?  He  identified  Himself  fully  with  these  captives  :  "  Inas- 
much as  ye  did  it  not  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it  not  to 
me."  We  call  it  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement  for  Foreign  Mis- 
sions :  fellow  students,  it  is  a  movement  to  set  Christ  free,  to  tear  Him 
out  of  the  chains  that  bind  Him  in  the  persons  of  those  He  loves  in 
other  lands.  And  Mr.  Mott  will  lay  before  us  to-night  a  privilege  and 
an  obligation,  for  he  invites  us  to  the  joy  of  spreading  this  Movement 
with  larger  power,  with  deeper  love,  ^nth  a  holier  abandon,  throughout 
all  the  colleges  of  this  land. 

Mr.  John  R.  Mott  said :  — 

And  that  is  the  best  word  that  I  can  say  to-night.  It  is  a  rare 
privilege  that  I  have  to  take  up  the  request  which  has  already  come 
from  many  of  the  most  consecrated  hearts  of  this  Convention,  that 


118  The  World's  Conquest. 

before  it  close  an  opportunity  be  given  to  every  person  who  has  had 
the  joy  of  being  here  in  these  hours  to  co-operate  with  God  in  the 
advancement  of  this  Movement.  I  simply  remind  you  of  that  record 
of  what  the  Spirit  of  God  wrought ;  I  simply  remind  you  of  these 
mottoes  on  the  wall ;  I  simply  remind  you  of  those  vows  that  you  have 
made  down  in  that  deep  place  in  every  life,  here  in  this  room  to-night, 
under  God,  to  do  larger  things  for  Plim  because  of  what  He  is  doing 
for  us.  So  I  come  right  to  this  point,  and  remind  you  of  that  one  part 
of  the  Executive  Committee's  report,  in  which  we  state  that  the  Move- 
ment needs  during  the  next  three  years  at  least  1^6,000  a  year, — 
that  is  the  minimum.  During  the  last  three  years  the  Movement  has 
expended  about  $4,000  a  year.  This  amount  kept  one  traveling 
secretary  in  the  field,  and  paid  the  salary  of  one  corresponding  secre- 
tary, and  also  paid  large  expenses  of  the  office,  and  of  an  evergrowing 
publication  department,  and  provided  for  more  or  less  convention 
work,  especially  at  the  Summer  Schools. 

It  has  been  hoped  and  it  has  been  prayed  by  a  great  many  here 
that  this  year  we  will  enlarge  this  force.  You  heard  it  stated  by  Mr. 
Fraser,  on  this  platform  yesterday,  that  the  field  of  Great  Britain  has 
thirty  thousand  students  to  cultivate.  We  have  a  field  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  in  the  United  States  and  Canada.  Over  there  they 
have  one  man  and  one  woman  traveling ;  in  this  continent,  with  our 
two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  students,  we  have  only  one  person  travel- 
ing. As  our  friend  pointed  out,  this  Movement  needs  a  firmer  hand,  in 
the  personality  of  a  few  more  strong  persons  that  might  go  up  and  down 
this  country.  We  want  to  enlarge  this  force.  And  I  mistake  entirely 
the  spirit  and  the  longing  of  the  people  here  to-night  if  there  will  not 
be  such  a  response  as  will  make  possible  a  marked  advance  in  this 
work.  /We  need  $6,000  a  year  for  three  years.  There  are  people 
here  to-night  that  are  not  going  to  see  their  way  clear,  in  the  Provi- 
dence of  God,  to  go  to  the  central  part  of  Africa  "  to  release  Jesus 
Christ ; "  but  they  are  going  to  be  able  possibly  to  give  their  hundreds 
of  dollars.  To  some  it  will  mean  more  to  give  their  15.00  or  $10.00  than 
it  will  to  others  to  give  larger  sums.  The  Spirit  of  God  is  going  to 
guide  us  in  this  matter.  Keep  this  thought  in  mind  —  in  giving  to 
this  Movement  you  give  to  God  Himself.  Because  you  noticed  from 
the  record  yesterday  that  the  volunteers  have  gone  to  all  lands,  you 
are  not  only  giving  to  all  lands  but  to  all  phases  of  missionary  work. 
You  are  giving  to  every  agency  represented  on  this  platform  and  to 
several  not  represented.  Because  this  Movement  is  in  hearty  allegiance 
to  every  church  board  and  every  missionary  society.  In  giving  to  this 
Movement  you  are  giving  to  all  lands,  and  all  agencies,  and  all  phases 
of  effort,  and  you  are  giving  to  Jesus  Christ  in  the  deepest  sense  of  the 
word,  /j 


The  World's  Conquest.  119 

The  Spirit  in  His  Work  and  Preparation  for  the  Missionary 

Enterprise. 

Rev.  A.  J.  Gordon,  D.D.,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  said  :  — 

Beloved  brethren,  at  this  late  hour  and  after  a  weary  day  I  am  very 
well  aware  that  the  Spirit  alone  can  lift  us  uj)  to  the  high  plane  on 
which  I  desire  to  speak  very  briefly  to-night ;  and  I  pray  that  the  Spirit 
will  help  us  to  consider  the  great  theme  of  "  The  Spirit  in  His  Work 
and  Prei^aration  for  the  Missionary  Enterprise," 

It  would  certainly  be  a  startling  statement,  if  I  made  it,  that  there 
are  two  Christs,  one  in  Heaven,  and  one  upon  earth  ;  and  yet  that  is 
the  literal  statement  of  the  truth  as  given  us  in  first  Corinthians  12  :  12 : 
"  For  as  the  body  is  one,  and  hath  many  members,  and  all  the  members 
of  that  one  body,  being  many,  are  one  body :  so  also  is  Christ."  This 
word  "  Christ,"  without  any  question,  refers  to  the  Church.  That  is  to 
say,  Jesus  Christ  is  there,  and  the  Christ  is  here.  He  is  head  over  all 
things  to  His  Church,  and  the  Church  His  body,  the  fullness  of  Him 
that  filleth  all  in  all ;  and  therefore  it  is  the  simple  truth  that  the  same 
name  is  given  to  Christ  and  to  the  Church.  And  there  is  a  reason  for 
this,  for  the  word  "  Christ "  means  "  the  anointed  one."  Just  as  Jesus 
Christ  was  anointed  with  the  Holy  Ghost  that  He  might  be  the  first 
great  missionary,  so  every  one  of  us  must  have  the  same  preparation  if 
we  are  to  follow  in  His  steps  and  worthily  accomplish  the  work  which 
He  has  committed  to  our  hands.  Think  just  a  moment  of  what  prepa- 
ration He  had  for  His  great  missionary  work.  Begotten  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  at  twelve  years  of  age  so  instructed  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  that 
He  was  able  to  dispute  with  the  doctors  in  the  temple.  And  then  that 
beautiful  manhood  !  What  more  did  He  need  ?  And  yet  m'C  find  Him, 
before  entering  upon  His  public  ministry,  praying  at  the  Jordan,  seek- 
ing now  the  enduement  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  as  He  prayed  the 
Spirit  descended  and  rested  upon  Him.  That  is  to  say,  He  depended 
upon  the  Holy  Ghost  for  the  accomplishment  of  His  ministry,  just  as 
we  depend  upon  the  Holy  Ghost.  Ask  Him  about  His  miracles.  The 
answer  comes,  "  I,  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  cast  out  devils."  Ask  Him 
concerning  His  great  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  and  you  read 
that  He  "  through  the  eternal  Spirit  offered  Himself  without  spot  unto 
God."  Ask  concerning  the  giving  of  the  great  commission,  and  we 
read,  "  After  that  He  through  the  Holy  Ghost  had  given  commandment 
unto  the  apostles."  In  a  word,  Jesus  Christ  depended  upon  the  Holy 
Ghost  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  His  ministry. 

Now,  having  given  the  great  commission,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world 
and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature,"  we  find  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  the  great  provision  for  carrying  out  that  commission  :  "  But 
ye  shall  receive  power,  after  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  come  upon  jou  : 


120  The  World's  Conquest. 

and  ye  shall  be  witnesses  unto  me  both  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judea, 
and  in  Samai'ia,  and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth."  "  Ye  shall 
receive  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  coming  upon  you."  In  other  words, 
the  great  commission  being  given.  He  gave  the  Holy  Ghost  for  the 
accomplishment  of  that  commission,  and  without  Him  we  are  not  to 
undertake  this  work.  Therefore,  just  as  Jesus  Christ  saw  and  obtained 
the  Holy  Ghost,  we  are  first  of  all  to  seek  this  blessed  qualification. 

When  I  say  there  are  two  Christs,  I  mean  simply  that  the  one  on 
earth  is  to  repeat  the  work  of  the  one  in  heaven ;  and  the  Holj^  Ghost 
simply  puts  us  in  communication  with  Christ.  All  that  Jesus  Christ 
has  and  is,  the  Holy  Ghost  is  to  communicate  unto  us  in  preparation 
for  our  great  work.  What  is  the  first  great  qualification,  in  order  that 
we  should  have  a  true  interest  in  the  salvation  of  man  ?  Need  I  say, 
that  we  should  love  men.  Can  we  open  their  hearts  except  we  obtain 
the  key  of  divine  love  ?  What  an  exquisitely  beautiful  phrase  is  that  of 
the  apostle  to  the  Philippians :  "  God  is  my  record,  how  greatly  I  long 
after  you  all  in  the  bowels  of  Jesus  Christ,"  —  as  though  he  said,  "  My 
heart  is  not  strong  enough  to  love  a  lost  world ;  I  must  have  the  heart 
of  Jesus  Christ  to  pour  out  my  affection,  that  it  may  be  made  strong 
enough  to  reach  its  goal." 

An  eminent  professor,  lecturing  before  a  class  of  medical  students 
in  Boston,  said,  not  many  years  ago,  putting  his  hand  upon  his  heart, 
for  that  was  the  subject  of  the  lecture  :  "  Gentlemen,  if  I  could  bring 
it  to  bear  upon  Bunker  Hill  Monument,  1  could  batter  it  down  in  a 
very  short  time  simply  by  the  pulse  beats  of  my  heart."  My  dear 
friends,  that  is  the  great  question,  how  to  bring  to  bear  our  pulse  beats 
upon  a  lost  world ;  if  we  can  bring  them  to  bear,  we  can  batter  down 
the  old  idolatries.  The  great  commission  has  been  given  for  naught 
less  but  that  your  heart  and  mine  migJit  go  out  to  our  perishing  human- 
ity and  lay  hold  of  human  hearts  with  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ.  There- 
fore, notice  this  beautiful  suggestion  which  we  have  in  the  statement  of 
the  apostle  speaking  by  the  Spirit :  "  The  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad 
in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  In  other  words,  the  Spii'it  just 
brings  down  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ  and  puts  it  into  your  heart  and  mine 
in  order  that  we  may  love  men.  And  we  can  never  get  near  the  heart 
of  sorrowing  humanity  until  we  have  been  brought  in  contact  mth  the 
Man  of  sorrows.  How  shall  we  get  this  divine  love  ?  If  we  have  the 
Holy  Ghost  He  will  inspire  it  in  us.  Our  own  heart  is  not  sufficient :  we 
need  to  pray  for  the  Spirit.  And  if  we  are  in  the  Spirit  we  shall  have 
the  love  of  Christ  in  us  to  lost  men.  I  have  long  since  ceased  to  pray, 
"  Lord  Jesus,  have  compassion  upon  a  lost  world."  I  remember  the 
day  and  the  hour  when  I  seemed  to  hear  the  Lord  rebuking  me  for 
making  such  a  prayer.  He  seemed  to  say  to  me,  "  I  have  had  compas- 
sion upon  a  lost  world,  and  now  it  is  for  you  to  have  compassion.     1 


The  World's  Conquest.  121 

have  left  you  to  fill  up  that  which  is  behind  in  mine  afflictions  in  the 
flesh  for  the  body's  sake,  which  is  the  Church.  I  have  given  my  heart ; 
give  your  hearts."  Therefore  I  say  to  you,  beloved  brethren,  that  the 
best  prayer-book  that  you  can  take  by  which  to  pray  for  a  lost  world 
is  a  map  of  the  world.  Spread  it  out  before  you,  look  upon  its  dark 
continents,  look  upon  its  wretched  habitations  full  of  misery  and  cruelty 
and  death.  Take  hold  of  the  map,  spread  it  out  before  you,  and 
then  remember  that  you  are  not  to  praj^  to  Jesus  Christ,  but  to  pray 
with  Him.  He  looks  down  upon  these  lost  continents,  and  as  He  prays 
that  the  world  may  be  brought  to  Himself,  that  that  prayer  "  Ask  of 
me  and  I  shall  give  thee  the  heathen  for  thine  inheritance"  shall  be 
answered,  it  is  for  us  to  pray  with  Him. 

Secondly,  I  believe  that  the  most  important  thing  for  missionaries, 
and  we  all  ought  to  be  missionaries  either  at  home  or  abroad,  is  that  we 
reproduce  the  life  of  Christ.  I  was  struck  by  a  remarkable  statement 
of  a  learned  Brahmin,  a  friend  of  Christianity  :  "  What  India  wants  to- 
day is  not  so  much  preaching  and  theological  teaching,  but  men  and 
women  among  us  who  will  simply  live  out  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ." 
Jesus  Christ  gave  us  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  that  we  might  do 
just  that  thing.  I  am  often  struck  b}^  the  wondrous  problem  science  is 
showing  us  of  the  truth.  I  looked  at  the  telautograph,  that  remarkable 
invention,  at  the  World's  Fair.  I  wrote  my  name,  and  every  peculiarity, 
every  dot  and  every  shade  was  exactly  reproduced.  And  instantly  I 
thought,  "  There  is  Jesus  Christ  on  the  throne,  and  just  as  that  current  of 
electricity  reproduces  the  autograph,  so  the  Church  is  in  communication 
with  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  Church  ought  to  be  the  autograph  of  Jesus 
Christ."  My  dear  fi-iends,  there  is  great  demand  for  translators,  —  and 
men  need  to  be  highly  educated  that  they  may  be  able  to  do  the  work 
of  translation,  —  but  I  believe  the  greatest  demand  is  for  men  and  women 
who  shall  translate  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ  into  the  dialect  of  our  sor- 
rowing and  suffering  humanity,  that  they  may  reproduce  Jesus  Christ, 
and  relive  Jesus  Christ  before  men.  The  secret  of  it  is  simply  in  being 
in  communication  with  our  risen  Lord  through  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  third  thing  is  that  which  is  suggested  in  this  text,  "  Te  shall 
receive  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  coming  upon  you."  We  have  a 
supernatural  work  to  do,  and  we  must  have  supernatural  power  with 
which  to  do  it.  God  has  given  everything  its  own  peculiar  motive 
power.  The  ship  is  propelled  by  the  Avind;  the  street-car  by  elec- 
tricity ;  the  mill  by  water ;  and  missions  must  be  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  There  is  no  other  power  that  can  rightly  impel  them ;  and, 
therefore,  it  is  everything  that  we  should  tarry  and  wait,  until  we  are 
assured  that  we  have  come  into  such  fellowship  with  Jesus  Christ  that 
all  the  impulse  and  might  of  our  risen  Lord  shall  be  behind  us  and 
impel  us  in  our  work.     And  just  in  proportion  as  the  Church  of  God 


122  The  World's  Conquest. 

waits  for  the  Spirit,  and  rests  in  the  Spirit,  will  it  easily,  inevitably, 
spontaneously,  do  mission  work. 

I  am  speaking  to  students  to-night ;  and  I  want,  just  briefly  now, 
in  a  little  historical  survey,  to  show  you  in  the  life  of  students,  young 
men  like  yourselves,  that  wherever  there  has  been  a  little  company  of 
young  men,  or  one  young  man  I  might  say,  who  have  made  it  a  supreme 
jDurpose  and  end  to  get  the  enduement  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  then  a  great 
missionary  movement  is  started.  Let  us  go  back  to  the  beginning  of 
Carey's  century;  go  back  to  1792.  There  was  in  a  German  university 
one  professor, —  I  don't  say  that  he  was  alone,  but  he  is  the  name  that 
stands  for  the  movement, —  a  man  who  in  the  midst  of  universal  for- 
malism sought  to  cultivate  the  life  of  the  Spirit,  who  waited  much 
before  God  that  he  might  know  the  fullness  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  And 
because  he  did  this  he  was  much  spoken  against  by  his  generation. 
He  had  the  name  of  "pietist"  attached  to  him;  not  in  the  beautiful 
and  attractive  meaning  which  that  word  has  to  us,  but  in  a  sense 
of  the  utmost  contempt.  And  yet  that  man  simply  prayed  and  waited 
for  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  he  received  the  marvellous  blessing  as  he  has 
described  in  his  Journal.  Now,  he  never  proposed  to  have  anything 
to  do  with  the  work  of  foreign  missions ;  it  is  said  that  the  thought 
never  entered  his  mind.  He  simply  wanted  to  re-live  the  life  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  have  a  practical  experience  of  the  enduement  of  the  Spirit, 
that  he  might  set  iip  a  second  Pentecost  in  the  midst  of  universal 
death  and  dissolution.  Now,  what  happened  ?  Three  men  came 
under  his  influence.  The  first  was  Bartholomew  Ziegenbalg.  He 
caught  the  fire,  and  was  moved  as  a  mere  youth  to  go  to  India; 
and  thus  the  first  Protestant  missionary  to  India  was  given  to  India 
through  the  prayers  of  this  earnest  man,  Francke,  of  Halle.  A  little 
after  this  Schwartz  went,  one  of  the  first  of  the  company  of  India's 
noble  missionaries.  Then  came  the  third,  that  lad  who  at  four  years 
of  age  made  a  covenant  with  Jesus  Christ,  "  Lord  Jesus,  be  mine,  and  I 
will  be  Thine  ;  "  that  lad  who  while  a  mere  youth  made  his  motto,  "  Lord 
Jesus,  I  have  but  one  ambition,  '  It  is  Thou,  Thou ; ' "  and  a  little 
later  renounced  his  estates  and  his  reputation  and  his  family,  and 
said,  "  Henceforth  that  country  shall  be  my  home  where  I  shall  have 
the  greatest  opportunity  of  preaching  Christ  to  the  perishing."  Just 
pause  a  moment  on  the  last  one. 

Zinzendorf,  of  whom  I  have  last  been  speaking,  was  lead  by  God  to 
inaugurate  that  great  missionary  chm'ch,  the  Moravian  Brotherhood. 
Think  of  that  great  work,  how  it  has  moved  on  through  that  century 
and  into  this  century  without  any  apparent  cessation  of  force ;  not  like 
a  spent  ball,  but  with  ever  increasing  force,  because  it  had  in  it  a  living 
vital  force  that  swept  it  on  :  a  church  that  stands  unique,  one  out  of 
every  sixty  of  the  members  becoming  a  foreign  missionary,  with  three 


The  World's  Conquest.  123 

times  as  man}'  communicants  on  the  foreign  field  as  at  home, —  a  church 
that  has  shamed  us  by  its  giving.  I  made  a  careful  calculation,  and  I 
believe  that  church  gives  per  capita  S8.50  annually  for  foreign  missions, 
while  the  j)er  ca})ita  among  us  is  less  than  fifty  cents.  I  beg  you  just  to 
think  over  how  it  all  started  in  that  little  circle  of  prayer,  where  a  few 
men  determined  to  bring  Pentecost  back  and  get  a  new  enduement  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  I  have  stood,  as  some  of  you  possibly  have,  in  the 
city  of  Geneva,  and  have  seen  that  wonder  of  the  two  rivers  that  flow 
together,  the  Rhone  and  the  Arve,  and  how  they  keep  perfectly  separ- 
ate far  out  into  the  lake.  I  didn't  knoAv  when  I  gazed  on  the  scene  the 
philosophy  of  it,  but  now  they  tell  us  that  the  Rhone  has  such  a  high 
source,  that  it  gains  such  tremendous  momentum  in  its  current,  that  it 
has  not  time  to  mingle  with  the  surrounding  waters,  but  sweeps  on 
without  blending  with  the  tides  which  it  passes  through.  This  church, 
it  seems  to  me,  is  just  like  that.  It  came  from  that  high  source  of  two 
or  three  consecrated  men  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  it  has  swept 
on  through  the  centuries.  I  rejoice  and  praise  God  for  such  a  splendid 
example  as  that  noble  missionary  church. 

That  is  one  source  of  the  movement  of  missionaiy  effort.  Let  me 
take  you  to  another.  Just  about  a  year  ago,  in  the  month  of  February, 
I  was  in  the  old  town  of  Northampton,  the  home  of  Jonathan  Edwards. 
I  stopped  OA'er  a  train  in  order  that  I  might  visit  what  to  me  is  a  most 
sacred  grave.  I  sought  out  the  old  churchyard  and  brushed  away  the 
snow,  and  read  the  simple  inscription,  "  David  Brainei'd,  Missionary  to 
the  American  Indians."  As  I  stood  there  I  said  to  myself,  "  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  declare  that  now  I  am  standing  at  the  fountain  head  of 
nineteenth  century  missions."  Why  did  I  say  it  ?  He  was  a  young- 
man  that  had  such  religious  enthusiasm  while  in  Yale  College  that 
he  was  expelled  from  the  college.  And  you  remember  how  Jonathan 
Edwards  tried  afterwards  to  get  his  degree  and  it  was  not  granted  him. 
If  I  were  on  the  corporation  of  Yale  College  to-day  the  first  thing  I 
would  do  would  be  to  give  the  degree  of  A.M.  to  David  Brainerd,  be- 
cause David  Brainerd  is  the  most  illustrious  man  Yale  College  has  ever 
had.  That  young  man  went  into  the  heart  of  our  American  forests. 
Have  you  read  his  Journal  ?  I  have  read  it  twenty  times  if  once.  If 
I  ever  want  to  get  preparation  for  an  earnest  spiiitual  campaign,  I 
do  two  things :  I  re-read  many  parts  of  the  Bible,  and  I  re-read  David 
Brainerd's  Journal.  How  he  prayed !  And  what  was  the  burden  of 
his  prayer  ?  That  he  himself  might  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
that  God  would  be  pleased  to  spread  abroad  the  Holy  Ghost  among 
all  the  nations.  He  did  not  pray  by  snatches  as  some  of  us  pray,  but 
all  day,  and  again  and  again,  from  sunrise  to  sunset.  He  never  intended 
that  any  human  eye  should  read  the  record  of  his  prayers,  but  we  have 
them.      In  one  place  we  read,  "  To-day  my  agonizing  was  such  that, 


124  The  World's  Coxquest. 

though  it  were  cool  in  the  forest,  my  clothes  were  wet  through  with 
the  sweat  of  my  intercession."  That  is  a  man  2)raying,  and  that  is  a 
man  receiving  the  mighty  power  of  the  Spirit.  What  comes  of  it  ? 
He  died  at  thirty-one,  a  young  man  yet.  And  after  he  had  died  see 
what  happened  !  Jonathan  Edwards  stood  at  his  deathbed  and  thanked 
God  that  he  had  heard  the  words  of  such  a  man.  And  the  very  year 
that  Edwards  died  he  sent  out  that  apj^eal  for  universal  prayer  through- 
out the  Church  of  God  for  the  effusion  of  the  Spirit  upon  all  flesh.  He 
had  been  so  moved  by  the  i^i'ayers  of  Brainerd  that  he  sounded  the 
trumpet-call  of  modern  nineteenth  century  missions.  The  philosopher 
and  saint  Edwards  himself  became  a  missionary,  and  he  sounded  the 
call  that  rallied  the  Church  of  God  to  begin  that  work  abroad.  Then 
what  else  happened? 

That  Journal  of  Brainerd  went  across  the  sea ;  it  determined 
William  Carey  to  be  a  missionary.  And  thus  we  trace  back  to  that 
young  man  the  great  modern  missionary  movement  beginning  with  1792, 
whose  anniversary  we  have  been  celebrating.  And  you  see  the  second 
trophy  which  this  man  Avon  by  his  prayers.  Henry  Martyn  read  "The 
Journal  of  Brainerd  "  in  Cambridge  University.  It  made  Henry  Martyn 
a  missionary,  though  Henry  Martyn  you  know  was  cut  off  very  early 
in  his  career.  But  his  work  lives  on,  and  in  Cambridge  University 
to-day  there  is  a  Henry  Martyn  Memorial  Plall.  You  can  see  the  names 
of  a  long  company  of  illustrious  missionaries  that  have  followed  this 
young  man  since  he  went  out  to  the  heathen,  and  the  list  is  being  con- 
stantly swelled;  and  among  them  you  will  see  splendid  men  who 
recently  went  forth  to  China,  and  whose  going  forth  so  stirred  the 
hearts  of  the  young  men  of  our  generation.  And  that  comes  again  from 
David  Brainerd  praying  in  the  dark  and  dismal  forest.  Then  Murray 
McCheyne  in  Scotland  read  it.  Murray  McCheyne  was  a  leader  in  the 
movement  for  evangelizing  the  Jews ;  and  that  movement  has  so  in- 
creased in  power  that  we  have  fifty  missionary  societies  for  taking 
Christ  to  the  Hebrews.  All  this  you  can  trace  back  to  the  influence  of 
one  man,  who  was  out-and-out  for  God  and  was  filled  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  as  few  have  been  in  any  generation. 

Let  me  now  trace  another  stream  of  influence.  Just  the  very  year 
that  David  Brainerd  passed  through  this  profound  experience  of  the 
fullness  of  the  Spirit,  in  1738,  the  same  year  precisely,  the  Spirit  fell 
upon  John  Wesley.  I  need  not  describe  that  marvellous  life.  John 
Newton  fell  into  the  current  of  that  great  movement.  John  Newton 
saw  a  young  man  in  his  congregation  who  attracted  attention.  That 
young  man  was  Claudius  Buchanan,  who  wrote  a  little  tract  that  fell 
into  the  hands  of  Adoniram  Judson  and  moved  him  to  give  himself  to 
the  work  of  foreign  missions.  And  through  Adoniram  Judson,  the 
great  Baptist  missionary  movement  came  into  existence. 


The  World's  Conqukst.  125 

Then  let  me  take  you  up  to  that  most  sacred  spot  in  Williams  Col- 
lege, where  those  young  men,  Rice  and  Newell,  prayed  into  being  that 
which  we  now  know  as  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions.  And  its  magnificent  work  for  the  century  can  be 
traced  back  to  that  little  spot  where  the  few  students  prayed  and  waited 
on  God. 

I  close  this  historical  sketch  with  another  scene.  In  that  Connecti- 
cut Valley  where  lies  the  body  of  David  Brainerd  some  3'oung  men 
met  in  the  year  1886.  I  had  the  grateful  honor  to  be  there.  And 
what  was  the  theme  in  those  very  memorable  days  ?  We  all  remem- 
ber what  it  was.  I,  for  one,  am  sure  I  did  not  think  particularh'  about 
foreign  missions,  but  the  great  theme  Avas  the  enduement  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Thei-e  was  deep  and  earnest  searching  of  the  Word.  There 
were  solemn  addresses.  I  i-emember  how  little  groups  of  students  went 
off  into  the  woods  and  came  back  telling  how  God  had  visited  them. 
It  was  a  wonderfully  spiritual  occasion.  I  don't  think  many  of  us  had 
special  thought  as  to  Avhat  Avould  come  of  it.  But  it  Avas  to  prove 
another  memorable  epoch  in  the  missionary  history.  Look  about  and 
see.  This  great  Student  Volunteer  Movement  sprung  from  just  another 
such  scene,  and  such  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  Church  as  those 
which  I  have  been  discussing.  My  dear  friends,  I  believe,  as  Dr. 
Pierson  has  said,  "  We  have  not  so  much  to  be  anxious  about  foreign 
missions  ;  if  we  have  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  if  Ave  are  in  the  power  of  the 
Spirit,  missions  will  come  inevitably.  Bring  back  Pentecost,  and  after 
Pentecost  there  will  be  a  mighty  movement  for  preaching  the  Gospel 
from  Jerusalem  even  "  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth."  The  two 
things  go  together  ;  get  the  poAver  and  then  Avill  come  the  movement. 

And  so  I  bring  you  back  to  this  great  theme  of  Christ  here  and 
Christ  there :  one  in  heaven,  the  other  upon  earth,  reproducing  the 
Avork  of  oiu-  ascended  Lord.     Two  or  three  practical  suggestions : 

First,  AA'e  must  giA^e  to  Christ  not  only  a  surrendered  will,  but  a 
AAdlling  self-surrender,  under  the  poAver  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Is  there 
an}^  difference  between  the  two  things  ?  How  often  in  dealing  with  a 
sinner  I  have  to  tell  such  an  one  that  he  is  too  much  occupied  with  his 
faith ;  that  his  faith,  Avhich  ought  to  be  the  medium  by  Avhich  to  come 
to  Christ,  has  become  a  barrier.  He  has  faith  in  his  faith,  instead  of 
having  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  Let  us  be  sure  it  is  not  simply  a  surren- 
dered will  which  we  seek,  but  a  surrendered  self.  The  will  must  carry 
the  man.  Put  yourself  out  of  your  own  hands,  and  say  unto  Jesus 
Christ  that  henceforth  He  shall  use  you  completely ;  as  you  moA^e  the 
rod,  or  swing  the  hammer,  or  guide  the  saAV,  so  He  shall  completely 
control  and  possess  and  direct  you.  That  is  the  thought :  a  surren- 
dered self  —  a  surrendered  life. 


126  The  World's  Conquest. 

The  second  suggestion  is  this :  be  sure  not  only  that  you  have  the 
Spirit,  but  that  the  Spirit  has  you.  Now,  I  want  to  deal  just  a  mo- 
ment upon  having  the  Spirit.  I  think  these  phrases,  "  the  baptism  of 
the  Holy  Ghost "  and  the  "  anointing  of  the  Hol}^  Spirit,"  have  bewil- 
dered a  great  many.  Let  me  state  what  I  believe  the  plainest  putting 
of  the  matter :  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners.  I 
tell  a  sinner  simply  to  accept  Christ.  Doctor  Chalmers  said  at  the  end 
of  life  that  the  sum  of  all  his  experience  and  wisdom  concerning  the 
Gospel  was  in  this,  that  the  Gospel  was  simply  a  gift  on  the  one  hand 
and  an  acceptance  on  the  other :  "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  He 
gave  His  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  should 
not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life,"  and  all  that  one  has  to  do  is  to  re- 
ceive Him.  Now,  Jesus  Christ  went  away,  and  the  third  Person  of  the 
Trinity  came  down.  Just  as  truly  as  Jesus  Christ  for  thirty- three 
years  walked  upon  the  earth,  the  Holy  Ghost  has  been  in  the  Church 
ever  since  the  day  of  Pentecost.  Now,  young  men  and  women,  as 
you  received  Jesus  Christ  for  your  justification,  have  you  solemnly 
received  the  Holy  Ghost  for  your  sanctification,  for  your  power,  for 
your  Divine  personal  helper,  so  that  henceforth  He  can  use  you  com- 
pletely? That  is  receiving  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  is  a  simple  experience 
of  faith,  and  there  are  many  that  bear  testimony  to  its  reality.  But 
that  is  not  all.  There  is  the  sun  :  what  good  is  it  except  I  have  an 
eye?  It  can't  bring  its  image  upon  the  retina  of  my  eye  if  I  am  blind. 
Here  is  the  air  all  about,  and  I  have  the  air ;  and  yet  I  shall  be  a  dead 
man  unless  the  air  has  my  lungs  through  which  it  can  laj'  hold  of  me. 
This  company  of  Christians  here  to-night  I  may  represent  as  the  lungs 
of  the  Holy  Ghost;  He  is  the  air.  Suppose  that  ninety  out  of  one 
hundred  of  the  air  cells  of  the  human  lungs  are  stopped  up,  how  can  a 
man  live  and  be  in  health  ?  He  has  pneumonia.  And  so  exactly  it  is 
in  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  have  the  Holy  Ghost,  but  He 
must  have  us ;  He  must  be  so  related  to  us  that  we  can  inhale 
and  exhale  Him,  that  He  may  be  in  us  while  we  are  in  Him.  Blessed 
experience,  if  trxily  the  Holy  Ghost  has  possession  of  us ! 

The  third  thing  that  I  want  to  say  is  this :  remember,  young  men 
and  young  women,  that  vessels  of  clay  filled  with  the  Spirit  are  more 
useful  to  God  than  vessels  of  gold  filled  with  self.  Why  do  I  say 
this  ?  Because  my  heart  has  been  often  touched,  in  a  great  company 
of  students  like  this,  by  what  I  know  a  good  many  of  you  are  think- 
ing of.  I  know  it  has  been  said  God  wants  in  the  missionary  field 
men  of  the  highest  talent,  of  the  largest  culture  —  God  wants  the  best. 
And  a  good  many  of  you  have  said  to  yourselves,  "  I  am  not  the  best ; 
I  haven't  much  genius  for  learning,  and  am  called  rather  a  dull  man  in 
my  college."  And  you  get  discouraged  and  say,  "  Well,  I  suppose  He 
doesn't  want  me."     True,  God  wants  the  best !     But  I  want  to  say 


The  World's  Conquest.  127 

here  to-night,  using  a  phrase  that  is  very  intelligible  to  Americans,  that 
I  am  not  a  monometallist,  but  a  bimetallist.  I  believe  that  in  a  great 
house  there  are  many  vessels,  vessels  of  wood  and  of  clay,  as  well  as  of 
gold  and  of  silver ;  and  I  believe  God  can  so  sanctify  a  vessel  of 
clay  that  it  will  be  turned  into  a  vessel  of  gold,  if  it  be  filled  only  to 
the  brim  with  the  Holy  Spirit.  Paul  was  declared  by  Jesus  Christ  to 
be  "  a  chosen  vessel"  to  bear  His  name  far  hence  to  "  the  Gentiles, 
and  kings,  and  the  children  of  Israel."  It  was  a  golden  vessel ;  but 
it  was  so  wonderfully  useful  because  it  bore  the  Holy  Ghost.  But, 
dear  students,  don't  be  discouraged.  I  can  say,  from  my  own  experi- 
ence, that  I  have  seen  men  who  were  earthen  vessels  of  the  coarsest 
kind  whom  God  has  wonderfully  used.  I  remember  a  man  who  came 
before  a  missionary  board  to  ask  to  be  sent  to  India.  He  was  so 
uncouth  and  ungrammatical  that  he  was  not  looked  upon  as  a  fit  can- 
didate for  the  missionary  service.  He  came  back  the  second  time,  and 
was  rejected.  He  came  back  a  third  time,  and  the  committee  said, 
"Well,  what  qiialification  have  you?"  He  said,  very  modestly,  "There 
is  not  a  qualification  I  can  mention,  except  I  believe  that,  by  the  grace 
of  God,  I  have  the  Holy  Ghost."  And  he  could  not  have  obtained  an 
appointment  if  he  had  not  petitioned  to  be  sent  as  a  servant,  "  Is 
there  not  a  mission  arj^  who  wants  a  servant  ?  I  will  do  anything ;  I 
will  black  his  boots,  carry  his  water,  chop  his  wood,  do  anything,  if 
you  will  just  put  me  in  India."  He  went  as  a  servant.  We  watched 
him  year  after  year ;  and  we  have  been  astonished  to  see  how  God 
uses  him,  simply  because  probably  in  his  conscious  lack  of  education, 
which  he  could  not  obtain,  he  brought  the  best  he  had  and  said  :  "  Lord 
Jesus,  I  am  but  an  earthen  vessel ;  I  am  willing  to  be  put  on  the  lowest 
shelf.  Now,  fill  me  with  the  Holy  Ghost."  And  God  has  made  him 
a  vessel  unto  honor.  I  just  emphasize  this,  that  none  may  be  disheart- 
ened. God  with  the  Holy  Ghost  dwelling  in  a  Christian  heart  can  do 
anything,  if  that  heart  be  only  completely  surrendered. 

Remember,  fourthly,  that  in  your  work  hereafter  the  heathen  must 
be  brought  to  culture  through  Christ,  instead  of  being  brought  to  Christ 
through  culture.  Why  do  I  say  that?  I  should  not  presume  to  say 
what  I  think,  but  I  know  many  of  our  wisest,  oldest,  most  judicious 
missionaries  here  say  it  to-day,  —  the  peril  of  the  missionary  field  is 
that  we  invert  the  great  commission,  that  we  put  education  first  and 
conversion  second  ;  that  we  begin  to  cultivate  men,  hoping  afterwards 
to  bring  them  to  Christ.  It  is  the  peril  in  many  of  our  missionary 
fields,  this  changing  ends  of  the  great  commission  that  says,  first  "  make 
disciples  of  all  nations,"  then  "  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things 
whatsoever  I  have  commanded."  Therefore  let  us  put  Christ  first. 
God's  way  is  best  and  God's  way  is  most  successful.  Martin  Luther 
had  a  very  quaint  and  curious  notion  which  he  has  put  in  print.     He 


128  The  World's  Conquest. 

believed  that  man  was  made  after  the  pattern  of  the  tabernacle ;  that 
there  are  three  courts,  the  outer  court  of  the  flesh,  the  middle  court  of 
the  soul,  and  the  inner  court  of  the  spirit.  I  simply  say  that  that  idea 
contains  a  very  beautiful  suggestion.  The  middle  court,  you  know,  got 
its  light  from  windows  opening  out,  but  when  you  went  into  the  Holy 
of  Holies  there  was  no  window,  it  was  all  absolutely  dark,  and  the  only 
light  that  came  there  was  the  brightness  of  the  Shekinah  glory  —  God's 
own  presence  lighting  up  the  Holy  of  Holies.  So,  dear  friends,  the 
spirit  is  the  Holy  of  Holies.  These  five  senses  open  out  for  the  soul, 
and  that  is  the  way  we  get  our  knowledge  of  the  material  world.  But 
the  Scripture  is  very  plain  in  teaching  us  that  the  spirit  must  be  directly 
taught  from  God  ;  the  Holy  Spirit  must  immediately  touch  and  change 
and  educate  the  spirit  of  man.  And  when  the  education  begins  in  the 
Holy  of  Holies,  the  light  which  shines  in  the  inner  court  will  shine  out 
towards  the  outer ;  in  other  words,  the  soul  and  the  body  will  be  devel- 
oped from  the  center  of  the  spirit.  That  is  the  starting  point :  "  God, 
who  commanded  the  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness,  hath  shined  in  our 
hearts,  to  give  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the 
face  of  Jesus  Christ."  I  believe  that  the  Gospel  is  the  light  of  heaven 
that  touches  the  inner  sanctuary  first.  Therefore  we  say,  hold  up  Jesus 
Christ  and  men's  hearts  will  be  changed  even  under  the  first  preaching 
of  the  Word.  Then  they  can  be  educated  after  they  have  been  re- 
deemed ;  then  they  can  be  led  on  from  step  to  step  of  human  knowledge 
when  they  have  had  the  Divine  light. 

Fifthly,  remember  that  your  Master's  commendation  at  last  will  not 
be,  "  Well  done,  good  and  successful  servant,"  but,  "  Well  done,  good 
and  faithful  servant."  If  a  man  is  not  successful  in  this  generation  he 
might  as  well  step  aside,  he  is  not  wanted.  I  cannot  find  that  Jesus 
Christ  lays  great  stress  on  success ;  it  is  all  on  obedience  —  do  according 
to  the  will  of  your  Lord.  I  think  Jesus  Christ  would  be  pronounced 
unsuccessful  by  those  who  knew  nothing  of  His  life  after  His  crucifix- 
ion, cut  off  as  He  was  in  the  midst  of  His  days ;  and  yet  we  have  that 
magnificent  prophecy:  "He  shall  see  His  seed,  He  shall  prolong  His 
days,  and  the  pleasure  of  the  Lord  shall  prosper  in  His  hand,"  Do  you 
think  that  Melville  Cox,  who  had  hardly  stepped  upon  the  shore  of 
Africa  before  he  died  of  fever,  was  a  successful  man  ?  He  laid  down 
his  life  even  before  he  began  his  work.  Was  Adam  McCall  a  success- 
ful man  ?  He  went  to  plant  the  Gospel  on  the  Congo.  He  Avas  taken 
with  a  fatal  sickness,  and  his  last  words  were,  "  Lord  Jesus,  Thou 
knowest  I  consecrated  my  life  to  Thee,  to  Africa,  and  if  Thou  choosest 
to  take  my  life  instead  of  my  service  what  is  that  to  me?  Thy  will  be 
done."  Was  George  Smith  successful,  that  devoted  Moravian  who 
went  to  Africa  and  was  driven  away,  who  had  only  the  privilege  of 
leading  one  poor  woman  to  Christ  ?     And  then,  year  after  year,  he  would 


The  World's  Conquest.  129 

go  at  twelve  o'clock  up  to  his  little  room  in  his  house  and  pray  that 
God  would  permit  him  to  go  to  Africa.  Livingstone  was  not  the  first 
to  die  on  his  knees  praying  for  Africa.  They  found  this  man  dead  one 
day  with  his  hands  clasped  upon  his  head.  He  had  died  praying  for 
the  Dark  Continent.  Failure?  And  \et,  when  the}^  celebrated  the 
one  hundi-edth  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  that  mission,  they  learned 
that  a  company  accidentally  stumbling  upon  the  place  where  he  had 
prayed,  had  found  the  coi)y  of  the  Scriptures  lie  had  left,  and  found 
one  aged  woman  whom  he  had  converted.  They  sought  to  sum  up  his 
brief  work,  and  reckoned  more  than  thirteen  thousand  living  converts 
that  had  sprung  from  that  life  which  seemed  such  a  failure.  God  said 
to  him  when  he  went  up,  "  George  Smith,  good  and  faithful  servant," 
not  "good  and  successful  servant."  Think  of  that  splendid  young 
man,  John  Coleridge  Patteson,  who  had  gone  out  into  those  Pacific 
Islands  with  a  heart  full  of  love.  One  day  he  saw  out  upon  the  dim 
horizon  an  island.  He  said,  "  No  one  I  believe  has  ever  yet  visited 
that  island."  He  went  to  the  island,  and  when  his  boat  had  barely 
touched  the  shore  there  was  hurled  at  him  a  volley  of  spears  and  he  fell 
dead.  They  took  him  back  and  found  upon  his  body  just  five  wounds, 
no  more  nor  less,  and  thus  they  bore  him  back.  And  they  say  now 
that  up  to  this  day,  if  you  want  to  move  the  heart  of  that  people  where 
he  was  murdered,  just  mention  the  missionary  with  the  five  wounds. 
Was  there  not  one  who  came,  the  first  missionary  to  this  M'orld,  who 
was  sent  back  to  heaven  with  His  five  bleeding  wounds  upon  His 
person  ? 

Just  one  more  suggestion  :  we  are  not  to  wait  for  our  missionary 
call  to  be  given  us,  but  we  are  to  act  upon  the  call  already  given. 
Why  do  I  say  this?  In  dealing  with  men  as  inquirers  I  have  con- 
stantly to  say  to  them,  "  You  have  not  to  wait  for  God  to  come  out  and 
pronounce  forgiveness  of  sins,  but  to  look  back  to  the  cross  where  He 
has  done  this.  See  what  Jesus  Christ  has  done,  and  enter  into  His 
peace  without  waiting  for  Him  to  do  anything  else."  When  men  pray 
for  the  Spirit  to  come  down  I  have  to  remind  them  that  He  has  come 
and  they  have  simply  to  accept  Him.  And  so  in  regard  to  the  great 
commission  :  you  have  not  to  wait  for  Jesus  Christ  to  send  you,  but 
you  have  to  listen  to  His  commission,  who  has  already  sent  you,  and 
the  question  is,  will  you  hear  His  voice  or  not  ?  I  came  across  a  rare 
document,  searching  in  a  college  library  ;  it  was  the  funeral  memorial 
discourse  on  William  Carey.  After  pajang  him  the  highest  tribute, 
the  speaker  said,  Carey  had  one  weakness,  and  that  was  a  want  of 
decision  of  character.  Who  would  believe  it  ?  Because  William  Carey 
once  said  to  him  :  "  I  preached  my  first  sermon  because  I  could  not 
say  no  !  I  was  settled  in  my  first  parish  in  England  because  I  could 
not  say  no  !    And  I  went  as  missionary  to  India  because  I  coiild  not  say 


130  The  World's  Conquest. 

no."  Blessed  is  the  man  who  cannot  say  "  no  "  to  the  great  commission. 
It  is  a  mark  of  indecision  not  to  be  able  to  say  no  to  the  world,  the  flesh, 
and  the  devil,  but  I  think  it  is  the  mark  of  the  sublimest  decision  if  you 
cannot  say  no  to  Jesus  Christ.  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach 
the  Gospel  to  every  creature."  "  Lord  Jesus,  I  must  go,  for  I  cannot 
say  no." 

One  more  thought :  all  this  missionary  movement  began  at  Jerusa- 
lem as  a  center,  not  geographical  Jerusalem,  but  spiritual  Jerusalem, 
at  Jerusalem  where  the  cross  was,  where  the  upper  room  was,  the 
atonement  and  Pentecost  —  Christ's  blood  shed  upon  the  cross  for  the 
remission  of  sins ;  Christ  sending  down  the  Holy  Ghost  for  empower- 
ing His  church  for  service.  The  cross  and  the  upper  room,  this  is 
Jerusalem,  not  local,  but  spiritual.  Put  yourself  back  there;  be  sure 
that  you  have  the  remission  of  sins  which  you  get  at  the  cross.  Be 
sure  also  that  you  have  the  Holy  Ghost,  given  in  the  upper  chamber. 

"Would'st  thou  go  forth  to  bless, 
Be  sure  of  thine  own  ground  ; 
Fix  well  thy  center  first, 

Then  draw  the  circle  round, — 

even  to  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth. 


■A 


FIFTH  DAY,  SUNDAY,  MARCH  4. 

Morning  Session. 

A  Consecration  Service  was  held  at  the  Central  Methodist  Church 
at  8.45  o'clock,  Sunday  morning,  conducted  by  Mr.  Mott.  Prayer  was 
offered  by  Mr.  John  Willis  Baer,  General  Secretary  of  the  United 
Society  of  Chi'istian  Endeavor.  At  9.15  o'clock  the  doors  of  the 
church  were  locked.     The  hymn,  "  More  Holiness  Give  Me,"  was  sung. 

Miss  Geraldine  Guinness  then  said :  — 

Dear  brothers  and  sisters,  our  hearts  have  been  drawn  very  near 
together  during  these  wonderful  days  in  which  God  has  privileged  us 
to  attend  these  great  meetings.  And  now,  within  a  few  brief  hours, 
we  shall  scatter  and  go  to  the  very  distant  parts  of  this  great  land,  and 
some  of  us  to  other  lands  far  away.  And  we  do  feel,  all  of  us,  a 
peculiar  solemnity  about  the  meetings  of  to-day.  God  has  given  His 
blessing  in  the  meeting  of  this  Conference,  but  many  of  us  feel  that 
the  blessing  has  not  risen  yet  to  the  high-tide  mark  at  which  we  want 
to  see  it.  Now,  I  know  well  that  in  this  meeting  here  to-day  there  are 
himgry  heaits.  Some  of  you  have  told  me  that  there  are  hearts  here 
longing  for  more  of  the  presence  of  Jesus.  I  know  there  are  some 
who  feel  themselves,  who  know  themselves,  to  be  out  of  touch  with 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Oh,  that  we  may  just  now  in  His  presence  see 
ourselves  Avhere  we  are.  "We  have  been  talking  about  great  themes, 
about  the  evangelization  of  the  world  in  this  generation.  We  feel, 
many  of  us,  that  God  has  called  us  to  take  some  part  in  this  gi-eat 
work.  Brothers  and  sisters,  where  are  we  ourselves  before  God? 
He  gives  us  this  one  day  more,  and  in  the  meetings  of  to-day 
we  shall  have  opportunity  for  mutual  helpfulness  and  sjanpathy. 
We  are  in  the  presence  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I  feel  as  if  He 
had  risen  up  in  His  eagerness  to  bless  us,  to  come  into  our  midst, 
as  He  did  on  that  great  day  of  the  feast  of  Jerusalem,  when  He 
stood  and  cried,  saying,  "  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  me 
and  drink."  I  feel  as  if  the  Lord  Jesus,  in  His  eagei'ness  to  bless  us, 
to  satisfy  ever}'-  soul  amongst  us  to  the  very  full,  and  to  send  us  away 
overflo-svang  T\ith  the  rivers  of  living  water,  as  if  He  had  risen  iip  from 
His  throne  in  glory  to  come  into  our  midst  just  to  cry  to  our  hearts 
"  Satisfied  !  "     Don't  go  away  from  this  place  ^nthout  drinking  to  the 


132  The  World's  Conqup:st. 

full  of  the  living  water.  Oh,  fi'iends,  are  you  satisfied?  Let  me 
speak  to  you  simply,  very,  very  humbly,  for  my  own  heart  is  hungry 
for  more  blessing  and  fullness  too.  I  am  going  to  China  in  two  weeks, 
and  I  feel  the  need  of  a  fresh  filling  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  I  feel  the 
need  of  more  power  and  fullness.  I  want  to  speak  to  you  just  as  an 
elder  sister ;  I  am  older  than  most  of  you  here,  but  we  are  brothers 
and  sisters  in  one  family. 

Now,  brothers  and  sisters  here,  are  you  satisfied?  Do  you  know 
what  it  is  to  abide  in  Jesus  ?  Do  you  know  what  it  is  really  to  live  in 
touch  with  the  blessed  One  ?  Do  you  walk  with  Him  day  by  day, 
hour  by  hour?  Oh,  have  you  got  victory  over  sin?  What  is  your 
special  temptation?  Have  you  got  victory  over  that  tendency  to 
worry,  to  carefulness,  perhaps  over  that  temper,  over  that  selfish- 
ness ?  Have  you  freedom  from  jDride,  from  self,  as  well  as  from  the 
bondage  of  sin?  Do  you  live  the  Word  of  God?  We  have  heard 
here  that  the  man  who  delights  in  the  Word  of  God  shall  succeed  in 
all  that  he  does.  Is  it  your  daily  delight  to  meditate  on  the  Word  of 
God  ?  Do  you  live  prayer  ?  Is  prayer  to  you  a  real  communing  wdth 
God  and  an  inflow^  of  power  and  blessing  into  your  life  ?  Have  you 
got  power  with  other  souls  ?  Does  God  use  you  to  the  conversion  of 
men  and  women  ?  Does  He  use  you  to  help  the  people  that  you  live 
with  ?  Does  your  life  really  reflect  the  Lord  Jesus  ?  Does  He  live 
over  again  vtdth  you  ?  Do  the  people  that  live  with  us  and  see  us  day 
hj  day  really  and  truly  see  Him  ?  Are  all  these  things  real  to  us,  or 
are  they  in  some  sense  words,  beautiful  doctrines,  and  not  a  practical 
daily  experience  ?  Oh,  we  must  know  the  reality  of  these  things,  or 
our  hearts  are  hungry  and  unsatisfied.  Is  there  a  hungry  heart  here 
to-day  ?  Is  there  a  heart  longing  for  more  of  the  presence  of  Jesus 
Christ?  Oh,  is  there  one  who  feels  the  need  of  more  of  the  fullness 
and  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  before  going  back  to  that  college,  to  that 
seminary,  where  you  are  a  witness  for  Jesus  amongst  men  who  know 
him  not? 

Perhaps  it  is  that  the  point  of  failure  in  our  lives,  the  secret  of 
weakness,  of  impotence,  of  all  that  we  deplore,  lies  here,  —  in  the  fact 
that  we  don't  really  know  the  personal  presence  and  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  our  hearts.  We  know  Jesus ;  and  I  have  been  thinking 
much  of  that  word,  "There  is  constantly  One  among  you  whom  ye 
knoAV  not."  The  Holy  Sj^irit  of  God  is  given  to  us  to  make  these 
eternal  realities  of  which  we  have  been  s})eaking  real  to  us,  to  make 
the  presence  of  Jesus  real  to  us,  to  make  His  power  real  to  us,  and  to 
make  impossible  things  possible  to  us,  even  victory  over  our  most 
besetting  sins.  Now,  what  do  we  know  of  Plim  ?  "  Oh,"  you  can  say, 
"  it  is  perfectly  true  we  have  Him,  we  all  of  us  know  Him ;  we  could 
not  be  in  Christ  at  all  without  having  the  Holy  Spirit  in  our  hearts  ?  " 


Thk  World's  Conquest.  133 

That  is  perfectly  true ;  but  we  may  have  Him,  and  yet  have  very  little 
of  His  power  and  fullness.  We  may  be  in  a  room,  for  example,  in 
which  the  electric  light  is  laid  on,  but  we  may  not  know  that  it  is  there, 
the  room  may  be  in  darkness ;  we  may  have  no  means  of  lighting  it 
up,  because  we  maj'  not  know  the  power  that  is  in  that  little  button  on 
the  wall.  The  power  to  light  is  there,  but  not  using  it,  we  may  be  in 
darkness.  Now,  just  so,  though  we  trust  and  believe  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  in  some  measure  in  all  our  hearts,  is  He  there  in  fullness  and  in 
power  ?  Has  He  got  all  of  us  that  He  would  have  ?  It  is  such  a 
different  thing  for  us  to  have  Him  and  for  Him  to  have  us. 

Now,  dear  brothers  and  sisters,  there  is  no  reason  why  any  one  of 
us  should  go  away  from  this  city  until  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  has 
taken  real,  full,  deep  possession  of  our  whole  being,  and  transformed 
our  lives,  in  some  sense  made  us  to  be  born  again  into  a  new  life,  a  life 
in  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Will  you  prayerfully  search  your 
Bibles,  or  if  j^ou  have  already  done  so,  do  it  again,  to  find  what  we 
are  to  expect  from  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  ?  I  think,  if  you  will  look 
all  the  passages  carefully  over  in  which  the  Lord  Jesus  tells  us  what 
the  Holy  Spirit  is  given  to  las  for,  you  Avill  find,  as  I  did  not  so  very 
long  ago,  that  He  is  really  given  just  to  meet  the  deej^est  needs  of  our 
souls,  and  to  be  to  us  just  the  very  thing  we  long  for  most.  Victory 
over  sin,  think  of  that !  Read  the  sixth  chapter  of  Romans,  the 
seventh,  the  eighth  of  Romans,  and  if  you  pray  over  that  and  the 
Spirit  enlightens  your  soul,  you  will  see  there  that  the  fullest,  the  most 
complete  and  permanent  victory  over  sin  is  promised  to  us  through  the 
Holy  Ghost.  And  then  liberty,  liberty  from  self,  from  fear,  from 
everything  that  would  hinder  us  and  keep  us  back  from  the  fullest 
blessing,  it  is  all  promised  to  us  in  Him ;  the  liberty  that  makes  us  free. 
If  you  know  yourself  in  bondage  to  anything  at  all  in  your  life  that  is 
keeping  you  back  from  what  your  life  might  be,  oh,  remember  you  will 
find  in  Him  the  promise  of  liberty,  the  fullest,  deepest  liberty  of  soul. 

And  then  that  reproducing  of  the  life  of  Christ  Take  for  example 
a  passage  in  Second  Corinthians,  the  life  of  Christ  lived  over  again  in 
us.  Listen  to  this :  "  Forasmuch  as  ye  are  manifestly  declared  to  be 
the  epistle  of  Christ  ministered  by  us,  written  not  with  ink,  but  wath 
the  Spirit  of  the  living  God ; "  and  then  further  down  in  the  chapter  : 
"  But  we  all,  with  open  face,  beholding  as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of  the 
Lord,  are  changed  into  the  same  image  from  glorj"  to  glory,  even  as  by 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord."  That  reproducing  of  the  life  of  Christ,  that 
re-incarnation  that  we  heard  about  last  night,  that  we  all  want  so  much 
in  our  lives,  it  is  through  Him.  Everything  we  need  is  for  us  in  Him, 
through  Him,  if  we  will  only  give  over  our  lives  to  Him  and  believe 
in  His  power  and  wait  before  Him  until  He  has  complete  possession  of 
us  and  can  manifest  that  power  through  our  lives.     Then,  blessing  to 


134  The  World's  Conquest. 

others,  power  with  men,  where  does  it  all  come  from  ?  "  He  that 
believeth  on  me,  from  him  shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water.  But  this 
spake  lie  of  the  Spirit."  There  is  not  a  need  we  have  anywhere  in 
our  lives,  there  is  not  a  blessing  that  we  want,  that  is  not  secured  for 
us  in  the  indwelling  fullness  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 

Now,  it  is  so  possible  to  know  all  this  and  yet  not  to  have  experi- 
enced it.  May  I  just  from  my  own  experience  give  you  some  simple 
facts  that  have  changed  all  life  to  me  ?  Our  hearts  are  very  much  alike  ; 
perhaps  what  I  passed  through  may  be  a  little  help  to  you ;  T  hope 
it  may  be.  Oh,  how  many  years  I  lived  a  life  of  great  failure,  of 
great  heart  hunger ;  I  know  it  all  so  well.  All  my  life  I  have  been 
a  Christian,  and  for  years  and  years  I  have  known  that  there  was  on 
beyond  me  a  greater  fullness,  a  blessing,  a  power  that  I  knew 
nothing  about.  When  I  went  out  to  China  it  was  with  real  consecra- 
tion to  God  and  real  desire  to  be  all  that  He  would  have  me  to  be,  and 
to  live  for  Him  only.  But  oh,  out  there  in  China,  during  those  first 
years,  how  much  I  came  to  see  that  there  was  a  great,  great  lack  in 
my  life  somewhere ;  I  didn't  just  know  where  it  was,  but  so  often  out 
of  touch  with  the  Lord  Jesus,  so  often  aweaiy  and  hungry  and  long- 
ing for  blessing,  and  so  often  there  was  no  real  power  in  my  life, 
not  the  victory  over  sin  that  I  wanted,  not  the  power  with  other 
souls.  From  the  very  first  day  that  I  landed  in  China,  God  began  to 
show  me  my  great  need  by  humbling  me  in  the  dust.  And  He  brought 
me  in  contact  with  other  lives  that  were  what  I  wanted  to  be.  I  saw 
in  the  lives  of  some  I  had  the  j^rivilege  of  meeting  a  fullness  of  bless- 
ing and  power  that  I  knew  nothing  at  all  about.  There  was  a  fra- 
grance of  Jesus  about  those  precious  souls.  Do  you  know  what  it  is 
to  carry  about  that  fragrance  of  Christ  with  you  ?  Do  you  know  how, 
when  a  person  comes  into  a  room  with  sweet  spring  violets,  the  fra- 
grance permeates  the  room?  Do  you  know  what  it  is  to  have  Jesus 
in  a  life  like  that  fragrance  ?  Have  you  seen  it  ?  When  one  comes 
in  contact  with  others  who  witness  to  Jesus  in  this  wa}',  you  cannot 
help  your  heart  being  drawn  out  in  love ;  you  feel  that  there  is  another 
there  beyond  the  persons  themselves ;  you  get  blessing  by  the  very 
contact  with  them.  I  met  such  people  in  China,  and  I  saw  they  had 
something  I  had  not  begun  to  have ;  and  my  heart  got  so  hungry. 
And  for  about  two  years  I  went  on  like  that,  sometimes  very  happy  in 
the  Lord,  and  sometimes,  oh,  so  far  from  that. 

At  last  I  came  down  to  the  coast,  to  Shanghai,  and  there  began 
some  meetings  amongst  some  sailors  on  board  an  English  man-of-war. 
There  was  not  a  Christian  man  on  board  the  ship  when  we  commenced 
them,  but,  by  and  by,  some  of  those  men  were  converted.  I  longed  to 
see  these  men  brought  to  Christ,  but  God  didn't  use  me  to  the  conver- 
sion of  one.     And  I  felt,  what  is  this  ?     I  have  not  the  power  in  mj^ 


The  World's  Conquest.  135 

life  that  there  ought  to  be.  That  also  brought  me  very  low  down  be- 
fore the  Lord.  Brother,  have  you  got  power  in  speaking  to  souls  when 
you  try  to  put  Jesus  before  a  man  ?  And  you,  dear  sister,  is  there  a 
winning  power  about  the  Word?  Does  it  take  the  effect  it  ought  to? 
The  days  went  on,  and  I  felt  there  was  something  I  needed,  and  I  didn't 
know  what  it  was.  And  one  night  a  stranger,  almost  a  stranger,  in  a 
meeting  said  something  to  me  about  blessing  and  fullness  of  power  in 
one's  life.  I  said,  "  I  know  very  little  about  it,  but  I  want  to  know 
more,  I  want  to  know  more  about  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,"  He 
turned  to  me  and  said,  "  What,  don't  you  know  the  fullness  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  your  life?"  That  startled  me.  I  had  never  thought  of  it 
before.  I  said,  "  No,  I  don't."  Then  I  went  away  and  thought  about 
it,  and  I  thought,  that  is  just  it,  I  don't  know,  I  don't  know  what  it  is 
to  have  the  real  fullness  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  my  life.  And  then  I 
began  to  pray  for  it. 

The  next  day  two  men  from  that  man-of-war  came  up  to  speak 
about  their  souls.  They  wanted  to  find  Christ.  They  were  most  un- 
godly men,  but  something  had  touched  them,  and  they  wanted  to  find 
Christ.  And  about  three  hours  that  Sunday  afternoon  I  was  with  those 
two  men,  pointing  them  to  Jesus,  and  I  saw  in  everything  I  said  to 
them  something  for  myself.  I  just  said  to  them,  "  Now,  what  you  must 
do  is  this  :  you  must  just  open  your  heart  to  receive  Jesus  Christ.  He 
can  do  all  that  you  need.  That  is  just  what  you  want.  He  is  willing 
to  come  into  your  heart,  and  take  2)ossession  of  your  heart,  and  save 
you  for  time  and  for  eternity.  You  must  receive  Him,  yon  must  receive 
Jesus  Christ  as  He  is,  all  He  is.  You  won't  understand  it  just  at  first, 
but  He  will  reveal  Himself  to  you  by  degrees.  Don't  wait  for  feelings ; 
don't  wait  to  be  any  better ;  don't  be  kept  back  by  fear  you  couldn't 
keep  it,  as  you  say ;  don't  be  kept  back  by  fear  of  the  result.  Just  take 
Him  as  He  is,  all  He  is,  as  you  are,  and  let  Him  come  into  your  heart 
and  do  all  the  rest."  And  in  their  difficulties,  in  their  struggle,  because 
it  was  a  hard  struggle  with  both  those  men,  I  saw  my  own  life  reflected  ; 
I  saw  that  what  I  needed  to  do  was  just  to  take  the  Holy  Spirit  as  I 
urged  those  men  to  take  Jesus  Christ,  or  rather  to  let  Jesus  Christ  take 
them,  to  give  over  their  lives  to  Him.  And  I  saw  that  I  needed  to  do 
the  same,  to  give  over  my  life  to  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  and  just  let 
Him  come  in  all  His  grace  and  His  fullness  that  I  knew  so  little  about, 
and  take  my  life  and  make  it  what  it  ought  to  be.  Of  course,  the  first 
feeling  was  doubt  about  the  result.  What  might  He  do  ?  How  far 
might  one  have  to  go?  I  had  seen  some  lives  that  went  far  beyond 
mine,  and  I  felt  as  if  I  could  not  live  as  they  did ;  it  was  too  much  for 
me, —  such  consecration  to  God,  such  devotion  to  His  service,  such  utter 
death  to  self.  I  feared  what  might  be  the  result  of  really  being  filled 
with  the  Spirit  of  God.     When  these  men  said  the  same  thing  about 


136  The  World's  Conquest. 

receiving  Jesus,  I  said,  "Don't  you  mind  that;  He  will  give  you 
strength  for  whatever  you  need."  And  just  talking  to  them  like  that 
made  everything  so  clear  to  me.  Those  two  men  gave  their  hearts  to 
Christ  that  day,  and  the  next  morning,  the  21st  of  December,  I  never 
shall  forget  it,  I  gave  my  life  to  the  Spirit  of  God.  I  saw  there  were 
just  three  things  about  it.  Carefully  I  went  through  all  the  passages  in 
the  Scripture  on  the  subject,  and  I  saw  first  of  all  that  God  gives  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  those  that  obey  Him. 

Now,  dear  brothers  and  sisters,  don't  let  us  be  mistaken  here.  If 
there  is  anything  contrary  to  the  will  of  God,  He  cannot  give  us  the 
fullness  of  the  Spirit.  He  can  only  bestow  the  glorious  gift  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  fullness  to  the  hearts  that  are  really  surrendered  to  Him. 
Now,  if  there  is  anything  in  your  life  or  mine  that  we  know  to  be  con- 
trary to  the  will  of  God,  anything  even  in  the  least  degree,  we  need 
not  look  for  the  blessing  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  for  we  cannot  get  it. 
There  is  the  first  primary  condition,  the  one  essential  —  God  gives  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  obey  Him.  And  oh,  let  us  search  our  lives 
m  the  light  of  God,  and  see  if  in  any  part,  however  small,  they  are  out 
of  touch  with  the  will  of  God.  Now,  I  believe  such  a  little  thing  as  a 
matter  of  dress  or  indulgence  in  tobacco,  anything  that  we  know  to  be 
not  fully  in  accord  with  the  mind  of  Christ,  may  keep  this  blessing,from 
us.  Do  let  us  ask  God  to  show  every  one  of  us  where  we  are,  and  if 
there  is  anything  in  which  we  are  not  living  as  He  would  have  us  live, 
let  us  get  that  put  right.  We  must  be  empty,  we  must  be  humble,  we 
must  be  cleansed  in  soul,  before  we  can  get  this  supreme  blessing. 
And  God  is  so  longing  to  do  all  that  for  us !  Think  over  it,  take  that 
thought,  and  never  expect  to  have  the  fullness  of  the  blessing  you  may 
have  until  your  life  is  fully  given  up  to  God  in  every  particular  and 
brought  into  accordance  with  all  that  you  know  of  his  mind  and  will. 
But  if  that  be  so,  if  we  are  by  the  grace  of  God  living  in  obedience 
to  Him,  then  I  say  that  we  must  ask  and  seek.  You  will  find  that  this 
is  true  if  you  look  through  the  passages  in  the  New  Testament :  "  Ask, 
and  it  shall  be  given  unto  you  ;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find ;  knock,  and  it 
shall  be  opened  unto  you."  And  what  follows  that?  "How  much 
more  shall  your  heavenly  Father  give  the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that 
ask  Him."  We  must  seek  and  we  must  ask :  For  this  I  will  be 
inquired  of  saith  the  Lord.     "  Ye  have  not,  because  ye  ask  not." 

Then  one  more  thing :  we  must  believe  and  accept,  that  we  may 
receive  the  promise  of  the  Spirit  through  faith.  I  believe  there  are  just 
three  steps :  first  of  all,  to  get  down  into  the  place  of  utter  surrender 
to  God  and  obedience  to  Him  everywhere ;  then  to  ask ;  and  then  to 
receive  in  simple  faith  the  fullness  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  our  hearts. 
We  need  not  expect  feelings.  No  feelings  came  to  me  that  day.  But 
I  knew  there  had  been  then  a  definite  transaction  with  God ;  and  in 


The  World's  Conquest.  137 

faith  I  claimed  from  Him  that  He  would,  b}'  Christ,  just  work  out  in 
my  life  all  that  He  wanted  to  see  there.  And  I  knew  perfectly  well 
that  that  definite  transaction  with  God  had  been  registered  in  heaven ; 
and  I  knew  that  as  I  had  given  my  life  over  to  the  Holy  Spirit  He  had 
come  in  and  taken  possession  of  it  as  never  before.  I  believed  it.  I 
knew  it  in  simple  faith,  just  because  the  Word  of  God  said  so  and  it 
must  be  true.  And  I  just  asked  God  that  day  to  give  me  His  seal  upon 
that  thing,  to  show  me  that  it  really  was  so,  by  working  as  never  before. 
It  was  my  birthday  that  week,  Christmas  day,  and  I  asked  for  a  birth- 
day gift  from  God  of  souls.  I  knew  that  only  the  power  of  the  Spirit 
could  save  a  soul.  I  had  not  been  used  in  the  salvation  of  souls  as  I 
wanted  to  be.  I  asked  God  to  give  me  souls  every  day  that  week. 
And  before  the  following  Monday  I  had  seen  sixteen  men  and  women 
brought  to  God.  I  had  never  had  such  an  experience  before  in  my  life. 
It  was  nothing  but  just  the  new  presence  and  power  and  fullness  of  the 
Holy  Spirit. 

Now,  brothers  and  sisters,  these  things  are  merely  mentioned,  just 
to  show  you  that  there  is  a  real  experience  that  we  may  all  know,  each 
one,  perhaps,  in  a  different  way ;  but  yet  we  must  know  the  reality  of 
this  thing  if  we  are  to  have  the  blessing  that  God  can  give,  I  have 
taken  too  much  time,  because  we  want  to  pray,  we  want  to  get  before 
God.  Oh,  that  you  may  not  go  away  from  this  city  without  real  heart- 
cleansing,  real  contact  with  Jesus,  real  faith,  real  filling !  Brothers  and 
sisters,  let  us  confess  our  need  to  God ;  don't  let  us  be  afraid  to  tell 
Him  just  where  we  are.  Jesus  stood  and  cried,  sajdng,  "  If  any  man 
thirst,  let  him  come  unto  me  and  drink."  I  want  to  drink  more  deeply 
of  this  fullness ;  I  want  to  know  the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Spirit  day 
by  day.  I  want  it ;  you  want  something.  The  Lord  Jesus  is  here.  He 
says,  "  What  wilt  thou  that  I  should  do  unto  thee  ?,"  One  question  ; 
many  answers.  Has  not  your  heai't  an  answer?  Listen  to  His  voice: 
"  What  wilt  thou  that  I  should  do  unto  thee  ?  "  Don't  go  away  with- 
out having  some  definite  transaction  with  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  fullness  • 
He  is  enough.  It  may  not  be  just  what  I  have  spoken  of;  but  your 
heart  knows  what  you  need,  and  His  heart  knows  it,  and  He  can  meet 
you  to-day.  He  can  meet  you  in  this  hall  or  in  the  privacy  of  your 
own  room.  He  wants  to  meet  you,  and  put  His  hand  in  blessing  on 
you.  We  have  been  talking  about  blessing  to  the  world :  brothers 
and  sisters,  it  must  begin  in  your  own  hearts.  My  heart  yearns  over 
you  all !  But  our  love  and  longing  to  you  is  nothing  compared  to 
that  which  He  feels  :  "  What  wilt  thou  that  I  should  do  unto  thee  ?  " 

Mr.  Mott  said :  — 

Let  us  pray  for  this  fullness  of  the  Spirit,  and  let  us  remember 
those  three  conditions.     It  may  mean  that  some  of  us  shall  give  our 


138  The  World's  Conquest. 

lives  to  this  missionary  work  that  had  not  thought  of  doing  it.  It  maj' 
be  that  some  of  us  will  have  to  hasten  to  the  field  very  soon  that  have 
thought  we  could  not.  It  will  doubtless  mean  that  all  of  us  will  be  willing 
to  speak  to  more  people  about  Jesus  Christ  during  the  next  seven  days 
than  we  have  ever  done  before.  "  The  Holy  Spirit  whom  God  hath 
given  to  them  that  obey  Him."  If  we  have  complied  with  that  condi- 
tion and  are  doing  it  now,  shall  we  not  ask,  and  shall  it  be  idle  asking  ? 
God  forbid !  But  the  last  four  days  amount  to  nothing,  compared  to 
these  next  ten  or  fifteen  minutes,  if  our  asking  shall  be  real,  and  not 
only  real  asking,  but  real  claiming.  Lord,  help  us  to  pray !  Let  us 
spend  the  entire  time  now  in  silent  prayer. 

A  period  of  silent  prayer  was  followed  by  brief  petitions  for  a 
greater  outpouring  of  the  Spirit ;  and  then  Mr.  Mott  requested  those 
who  wanted  a  definite  and  enlarged  blessing,  a  fullness  that  they  had 
not  hitherto  known,  to  rise.  As  seen  from  the  platform,  every  one  in 
the  audience  seemed  to  rise. 

Miss  Guinness  said :  — 

May  I  give  you  one  word  from  Robert  Wilder  in  India?  He  says  : 
"  He  that  saveth  his  time  from  prayer  shall  lose  it.  He  that  loseth  his 
time  for  communion  with  God  shall  find  it  in  blessing." 

Sunday  Afternoon  Meeting. 

A  meeting  was  held  at  the  Central  Methodist  Church  at  three 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  After  several  hymns  were  sung,  Mr.  Mott 
said :  — 

We  are  going  to  ask  the  missionaries  who  are  on  the  platform,  so 
far  as  we  have  time,  to  speak  very  briefly  this  afternoon,  right  out 
from  their  hearts,  saying  to  us  in  three,  four,  or  five  minutes  the  prin- 
cipal conviction  and  the  principal  longing  they  have  concerning  those 
of  us  who  are  students  here  to-day.  If  they  could  say  but  one  thing 
to  us  that  they  would  like  to  have  lodge  in  our  memories  and  in  our 
hearts,  what  would  that  be  ? 

The  Rev.  Andrew  P.  Happer,  D.D.,  of  Canton,  China,  said :  — 

My  dear  young  friends,  in  being  asked  to  say  something  that  would 
remain  fixed  in  your  minds,  I  would  not  select  any  words  of  my  own ; 
I  would  simply  ask  you  to  write  upon  the  tablets  of  your  hearts  the 
words  of  our  Master,  "  Go  ye  therefore  "  :  that  "  therefore  "  connects  it 
with  the  previous  sentence,  which  says,  "All  power  is  given  unto  me 
in  heaven  and  in  earth."  Therefore,  we  go  not  in  vain  dependence, 
we  go  in  dependence  upon  the  Almighty  power  of  Him  who  has  all 


TiiK  World's  Conquest.  139 

power  in  heaven  and  in  earth.  And  by  reason  of  that  power,  and  by 
reason  of  the  possession  of  that  power,  He  says  to  you,  "  Go  ye  there- 
fore into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature." 

But,  in  connection  with  that,  I  Avish  to  direct  j^our  attention  to  the 
last  words  of  His  address  —  treasure  that  in  your  hearts :  "  Lo,  I  am 
with  3^ou  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  Oh,  precious  as- 
surance !  Wherever  you  go,  wherever  you  rest,  wherever  you  toil, 
wherever  you  suffer,  wherever  you  lie  down  to  die,  remember  the  as- 
surance of  the  Master  is,  "Lo,"  —  however  forsaken  of  others,  however 
forgotten  b}"  others,  however  neglected  by  others,  however  unknown 
to  others  —  T,  I  who  have  all  power  in  heaven  and  earth,  "  Lo,  I  am 
with  you."  What  more  could  you  have  ?  And  I  testify  that  during 
the  forty-seven  years  of  labor  and  toil  for  Him,  under  all  circumstances, 
under  all  situations,  under  all  trials,  under  all  discouragements,  under 
all  sicknesses,  I  have  had  this  promise  fully  verified ;  and  I  thank  God 
that  I  am  permitted  to  bear  testimony  that  I  have  found  it  fulfilled 
always,  under  all  circumstances. 

Rev.  Dr.  George  W.  Knox  said :  — 

We  hear  a  great  deal  in  the  meetings  about  consecration ;  and  it 
seems  to  me  sometimes  as  though  Ave  looked  upon  this  work  of  foreign 
missions  as  something  to  be  dreaded,  as  though  we  were  making  some 
great  sacrifi^ce  for  our  Lord,  and  needed  some  particularly  heroic  im- 
pulse that  we  might  make  it.  Now,  perhaps  those  of  us  who  have 
been  for  j^ears  in  the  foreign  field,  until  Asia  is  more  our  home  than 
America,  underestimate  the  self-sacrifice  which  it  requu-es  for  a  man  to 
listen  to  the  voice  of  God,  which  tells  him  to  be  a  foreign  missionary. 
But,  oh,  if  God  has  spoken  thus  to  your  hearts,  it  is  no  sacrifice  to 
obey  Him.  Of  course,  there  are  discouragements  and  difficulties  and 
disappointments,  and  a  man  often  seems  to  himself  to  be  wasting  his 
life,  to  be  pouring  it  out  in  vain ;  but  if  he  has  followed  Avhere  God 
AAalls,  then  is  there  not  a  joy  that  a  hundredfold  exceeds  CA^ery  sorrow 
or  disappointment?  It  is  a  blessed  Avork,  O  my  brethren,  to  us  who 
are  setting  forth  the  everlasting  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  to  men  who 
have  heai*d  it  not,  to  whom  it  comes  as  glad  tidings  of  great  jo}^  It 
is  a  great  joy  to  see  the  Gospel  taking  root  and  bringing  forth  fruit  in 
heathen  lands.  It  is  a  great  joy  for  one  to  knoAV  that  the  Holy  Spirit, 
using  the  Avords  He  hath  given  the  missionary  to  speak,  is  making  them 
bring  forth  fruit  to  eternal  life.  Is  it  a  sacrifice  to  be  a  missionary? 
It  is  a  thousand  times  more  sacrifice  not  to  be  a  missionary. 

ReA^  Z.  Y.  Griffin,  of  Orissa,  India,  said  :  — 

A  few  years  ago  I  Avas  called  out  to  a  Hindoo  Aullage  to  baptize  a 
fcAv  people.     Whilst  stopping  in  a  little  mud  schoolhouse,  one  of  the 


140  Thk  World's  Conquest. 

old  men  who  had  recently  been  converted  seemed  to  want  to  sit  by  me, 
and  when  he  addressed  me,  he  always  said,  "  Dharma  Avatar,"  —  that 
is,  "  the  Incarnation  of  Religion."  I  thought  I  ought  to  chide  the  old 
man  at  first.  Then  T  said,  "  He  is  right ;  I  ought  to  be  the  incarnation 
of  religion."  And,  dear  friends,  I  want  to  say  to  you  that  if  you  are 
the  incarnation  of  religion,  yea,  the  incarnation  of  Christ  in  India,  as 
well  as  in  other  lands,  your  lives  will  be  successful. 

Mr.  Edward  Marsden,  of  Marietta  College,  a  native  Alaskan,  said  :  — 

I  rise  to  voice  my  country,  the  youngest  of  all  mission  fields,  for- 
merly known  as  Russian  America.  She  is  a  country  of  heathen  blind- 
ness, superstition,  custom,  and  practice,  as  well  as  a  country  of  foreign 
lawlessness,  infidelity,  intemperance,  and  degradation.  But  I  say  with 
joy  that  she  is  a  country  where  Christianity  is  gaining  ground,  and 
heathenism  is  losing  ground.  One-sixth  of  the  native  population 
has  been  made  Christian  through  the  devoted  American,  English,  and 
native  missionaries.  Christianity  is  gaining  ground,  and  along  with  it 
of  course  comes  always  true  civilization,  which  includes  among  other 
things  learning,  industry,  law,  and  patriotism.  Not  only  do  we  boast 
of  the  emblems  of  power  and  victory  of  our  Almighty  God,  the  cross 
and  the  crown,  but  we  boast  in  the  emblems  of  power  and  victory  of 
our  nation,  the  stars  and  stripes.  Judging  from  the  results  of  a  few 
years'  toil,  it  is  only  a  question  of  time  and  more  laborers,  that  my 
country  shall  be  wholly  captured  and  brought  under  the  sway  of  Him, 
the  Saviour  of  mankind.  The  earnest  and  touching  appeal  of  the 
apostle,  the  man  of  prayer,  seems  appropriate  in  our  case  :  "  Finally, 
brethren,  pray  for  us,  that  the  Word  of  the  Lord  may  have  free  course 
and  be  glorified,  even  as  it  is  with  you."  When  we  cannot  respond 
to  other  kinds  of  appeals,  I  know  we  can  always  respond  to  this  one. 

Rev.  A.  Oltmans,  of  Nagasaki,  South  Japan,  said :  — 

When  we  were  students  in  college  and  thought  of  our  si)iritual  life, 
we  looked  forward  to  the  seminary  course  as  a  sphere  in  which  we 
would  be  able  to  obtain  more  of  spiritual  life  and  more  of  devotion  to 
the  cause  of  Christ  than  we  did  in  the  college.  We  thought  from  the 
nature  of  the  case  this  would  be  so,  because  we  would  be  employed  in 
spiritiial  things.  Did  we  find  it  so  ?  My  sad  experience  was  no.  But 
those  of  las  who  have  gone  from  the  seminaries  into  the  foreign  field 
thought,  "  Certainly  when  we  get  into  the  foreign  field,  into  foreign 
missionary  work,  then  we  shall  be  more  spiritual,  then  we  shall  be  men 
and  women  of  more  devotion  to  Christ."  Have  we  found  it  so  from 
the  nature  of  the  case  ?  My  sad  experience  was  no.  And  yet  I  do 
not  wonder  that   Miss  Guinness  has  obtained  the  filling  of  the  Spirit 


The  World's  Conquest.  141 

there  in  China ;  because  there  is  the  greatest  need  felt  for  it.  But  you 
will  never  get  it  as  a  matter  of  course  hy  merely  looking  forward  to 
such  a  sphere  of  labor.  Fellow  students,  get  the  Spirit's  power  now. 
You  need  it  in  your  preparation.  The  nearer  you  come  to  the  field  the 
more  you  need  it,  and  when  you  are  once  there  you  need  it  most  of  all. 

The  Rev.  S.  L.  Baldwin,  D.  D.,  Secretary  of  the  Missionary  Society 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  said :  — 

I  knew  a  man  in  China  who  was  about  fifty  years  old  when  he  first 
heard  the  name  of  Christ  in  a  little  chapel  in  Foochow.  He  sat  about 
half  way  out  toward  the  door,  when  Brother  Binkley,  who  came  to  us 
from  Indiana,  was  preaching,  and  he  heard  him  say  this,  "Jesus  can 
save  you  from  all  your  sins." 

When  the  service  was  over  he  waited  and  said,  "  Did  I  hear  you 
aright  ?  Did  you  say  that  Jesus,  whom  I  never  heard  of  before,  can 
save  me  from  all  my  sins?" 

"  Yes,  that  is  what  I  said." 

"  Well,"  he  said,  looking  sad,  "  you  don't  know  me,  or  you  never 
would  have  said  that.  I  have  been  a  gambler,  a  sorcerer,  a  very 
unclean  man  in  my  life.  I  have  been  an  opium  smoker  for  twenty 
years,  and  no  one  who  smokes  that  long  can  ever  be  saved  from  the 
habit, —  every  one  knows  that.  Tf  you  had  known  this  you  would  not 
have  said  what  you  did." 

"  Yes,"  said  Brother  Binkley,  "  I  would ;  and  I  tell  you  that  Jesus 
can  save  you  from  every  one  of  your  sins." 

The  poor  man  could  not  believe  it  that  day,  but  he  w^ent  home  to 
think  about  it.  And  it  was  such  a  Avondrous  new  thought  to  come 
into  that  heathen  life,  of  some  one  who  could  possibly  save  him  from 
all  his  sins,  that  he  came  next  day  to  talk  to  Brother  Binkley  about  it. 
And  he  came  again  for  several  weeks,  and  he  talked  about  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  and  told  about  the  troubles  he  had  in  accepting  it.  But 
underneath  I  could  see  a  sincere  spii-it  and  desire  to  find  the  truth  and 
follow  it  when  he  found  it.  One  day  he  came,  threw  open  the  door, 
and  rushed  in,  and  finding  my  Brother  Binkley  there  he  said,  "  I  know 
it,  I  know  that  Jesus  can  save  me,  for  He  has  done  it." 

Brother  Binkley  said,  "  How  about  that  opium  pipe  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  don't  want  it  any  more ;  I  will  never  smoke  opium  again, 
I  will  never  do  any  of  the  bad  things  I  have  been  doing.  But  I  want 
to  go  down  to  Honan  to  tell  the  people  that  Jesus  can  save  them  from 
all  sins." 

When  his  friends  heard  that,  they  were  very  much  alarmed,  because 
Honan  was  in  a  state  of  anarchy,  and  they  said,  "If  you  go  down 
there  preaching  this  foreign  doctrine,  they  will  take  your  head  off." 


142  The  World's  Conquest. 

•'  Oh,  no,"  he  said,  "  they  need  this  Gospel,  and  they  are  my  people, 
and  I  must  go  and  tell  them  about  Jesus." 

He  went.  Once  they  stoned  him,  and  left  him  lying  insensible  on 
the  street.  But  when  he  came  to  his  senses  he  stood  right  there  say- 
ing, "  Jesus  can  save  you  from  all  your  sins,  because  He  has  saved  me 
from  mine." 

Dear  brethren,  that  is  the  preaching  that  is  going  to  take  the  world 
for  Christ,  the  preaching  which  says,  "  Jesus  is  going  to  save  you  fi'om 
all  your  sins,"  and  backs  it  with  the  personal  testimony,  "  I  know  it,  be- 
cause He  has  saved  me  from  mine."  That  old  Honan  district  was  not 
different  from  the  rest  of  the  world  in  that  respect.  Hundreds  were 
brought  to  Christ  by  his  labor.  But  one  day  his  enemies  caught  him, 
and  they  had  their  false  charges  prepared  ;  they  had  a  magistrate  who 
was  ready  to  impose  a  severe  sentence.  They  sentenced  him  to  two 
thousand  stripes,  and  the  sentence  was  executed.  I  remember  the  sad 
day  when  he  was  brought  to  our  compound,  and  Dr.  Stewart  said,  as 
he  shook  his  head  sadly,  "  I  don't  think  we  can  save  him ;  I  never  saw 
such  a  terrible  case  of  injury  from  beating  in  my  life ;  but  we  will  do 
all  we  can  for  him."  I  remember  I  thought,  how  shall  I  comfort  him  ? 
And  I  remember  too  how,  as  my  eyes  met  the  glance  of  his  from  his 
couch,  I  saw  he  did  not  need  any  comfort  from  me,  for  there  was  a 
smile  on  his  face  that  told  not  simply  of  resignation,  but  of  triumph.  And 
he  said  to  me,  before  I  framed  any  words  to  speak  to  him,  "  Teacher, 
this  poor  body  is  in  great  pain  just  now,  but  this  inside  heart  has  perfect 
peace.  Jesus  is  with  me.  He  is  taking  care  of  me  ;  and  I  think  perhaps 
He  will  take  me  to  heaven  now,  and  I  will  be  glad  to  go."  Then  I 
could  see  that  another  chain  of  thought  was  in  his  mind,  as  he  raised 
himself  up  with  some  effort  and  said,  "  But  if  I  could  get  up,  you  will 
let  me  go  back  to  Honan,  won't  you  ?"  And  before  we  thought  he  was 
hardly  able  to  stand,  he  went,  without  waiting  for  our  permission  :  he 
was  off  again  preaching  to  the  same  men,  with  such  power  that  some 
of  them  were  converted.  And  so  he  went  on  through  his  glorious 
career,  winning  souls  for  God,  until  a  fatal  illness  seized  him,  and  one 
Saturday  night  he  said  to  the  brethren  around  him,  "  Sing  the  Saturday 
night  hymn."  He  tried  to  sing,  l)ut  his  voice  failed,  and  he  said,  "  To- 
morrow morning  you  will  be  singing  in  the  chapel,  but  I  will  be  sing- 
ing with  the  angels  in  heaven."  And  in  a  short  time  his  triumphant 
spirit  took  its  flight.  But  there  were  at  least  six  hundred  souls  won  for 
God  by  that  man's  labors,  and  twenty  preachers,  among  them  two  of 
his  own  sons. 

If  you  are  called  to  China  or  India  or  Japan,  wherever  God  calls, 
He  will  give  you  fruit  to  your  labor.  Just  take  this  for  your  prayer, 
that  old  Brother  Thompson,  who  went  to  Africa  and  spent  so  many 
years  there,  prayed  when  he  conceived  the  idea  of  going  to  Africa, 


The  World's  Conquest.  143 

"  Lord,  lead  me  and  guide  me  to  the  portion  of  the  field  where  Thou 
wouldest  have  me  be."     Then  you  will  be  in  the  right  place. 

Rev.  Frederick  G.  Coan,  of  Oroomiah,  Persia,  said :  — 

I  want  to  testify  what  the  grace  of  God  is  able  to  do  for  our  native 
converts,  in  order  to  show  you  what  a  grand  thing  it  is  for  us  to  go 
and  reach  such  souls.  So  I  shall  try  as  briefly  as  possible  to  give  you 
an  account  of  the  life  and  death  of  one  of  whom  I  know  many  of  you 
must  have  heard  —  Mirza  Ibraheem,  our  first  Mohammedan  martyr  in 
Persia.  He  had  been  converted,  and  fled  from  his  people  to  escape 
death.  He  came  to  us  to  seek  our  symjsathy  and  our  aid.  He  occu- 
pied a  little  room  in  the  court-yard,  and  we  gave  him  some  writing  to 
do ;  and  while  Ave  thought  that  poor  man  was  doing  the  writing  to 
obtain  a  livelihood,  he,  unknown  to  us,  was  preaching  the  Gospel 
to  the  poor  Mohammedans  who  were  accessible  to  him  in  that  city. 
After  a  while  he  asked  us  to  permit  him  to  go  out  and  preach  openly 
among  the  Mohammedans  in  the  plain  of  Oroomiah.  When  you  remem- 
ber that  for  a  Mohanamedan  to  denounce  his  religion  means  persecu- 
tion, the  loss  of  all  things,  and  perhaps  death,  you  will  see  what  this  request 
meant.  We  asked  him  if  he  knew  the  consequences.  He  said,  "  Yes  ; 
but  if  it  must  be  by  the  blood  of  martyrs  that  freedom  is  given  to  a 
people,  let  me  be  the  first  martyr."  He  went  out  and  preached  three 
months,  but  was  finally  arrested.  He  was  brought  before  the  gov- 
ernor, who  was  anxious  to  release  him,  and  give  him  a  way  of  escape, 
by  telling  the  people  that  he  was  out  of  his  mind,  that  it  was  impossi- 
ble for  a  Mohammedan  to  be  a  Christian.  But,  arising,  he  said,  "  No, 
your  lordship,  I  am  not  crazy.  I  have  accepted  Christ ;  I  am  not 
crazy."  With  that  he  was  thrown  down,  beaten,  cuffed,  and  spit  upon, 
received  the  awful  punishment  known  as  the  bastinado,  where,  with 
the  soles  of  the  feet  exposed  to  the  air,  he  received  the  rough  blows 
until  his  feet  were  a  mass  of  raw  flesh,  and  then  thrown  into  prison 
in  heavy  chains.  And  there  he  suffered  intense  agony.  One  of  the 
doctors  went  to  see  him  next  day,  and  when  he  went  in  there  what 
was  his  astonishment  to  see  the  man  sitting  up  reading  the  Testament 
and  preaching  to  the  prisoners.  To  make  a  long  story  short,  he  was 
taken  over  to  Tabriz,  thrown  into  a  dungeon,  and  subjected  to  every 
indignity  and  violence.  They  tried  to  starve,  freeze,  beat,  choke  Chris- 
tianity out  of  him ;  but  he  hung  on  to  his  faith,  and  testified  of  Christ's 
great  love.  Then  they  tried  to  buy  it  out  of  him.  They  sent  a  great 
bag  of  gold  there  by  one  of  their  own  men.  They  said,  "  This  is 
yours,  if  you  wnll  only  come  out  and  say  it  was  a  sham."  They  could 
not  bear  to  think  of  a  man  dying  and  testifying  for  Christ.  Mirza 
Ibraheem  spurned  the  gold.     One  night,  after  he  had  been  suffering 


144  The  World's  Conquest. 

great  agony,  the  prisoners  said,  "Why  don't  you  call  upon  Allah;  he 
will  save  you."  He  called  upon  Christ,  and  asked  Him,  if  it  was  only 
His  will,  to  release  his  spirit  and  allow  him  to  go  to  the  rest  of  the 
people  of  God.  The  prisoners,  enraged,  choked  him,  strangled  him 
nearly  to  death  ;  and  next  day  when  visited  by  our  physician  he 
breathed  his  last.  Word  was  sent  around  to  come  and  bury  that 
Christian  dog.  But,  oh,  thank  God,  they  called  him  a  Christian  dog. 
He  was  buried  there,  and  we  have  marked  his  grave  in  order  that  the 
future  Mohammedan  church  may  see  where  their  first  martyr  lay. 

Oh,  my  friends,  what  more  blessed  work  than  that ;  if  you  can  win 
such  souls,  what  more  blessed  work  than  to  go  out  and  do  what  you 
can  for  them. 

An  Appeal  to  Students  for  the    Foreign  Field. 

Mr.  Sherwood  Eddy,  of  Yale  '91,  said :  — 

I  wonder,  friends,  if  we  fully  understand  the  significance  of  these 
messao-es  that  are  coming  to  us.  These  missionaries  who  have  come 
together  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  are  not  here  for  a  social  time  nor 
for  their  own  entertainment.  They  are  not  here  merely  to  give  a  word 
of  advice  or  encouragement  to  those  of  us  who  are  going  to  the  foreign 
field ;  but  they  have  come  to  make  an  appeal  for  the  countries  which 
they  represent,  that  more  eyes  may  be  lifted  up  to  look  upon  those  dis- 
tant fields  and  more  laborers  be  called  forth  to  those  whiter  harvests. 
Let  us  then  cast  one  glance  at  this  world-field  from  which  they  have 

come. 

Africa  :  one  word  pictures  its  condition  —  "  Slavery."  A  race  of 
slaves  in  body,  mind,  and  soul.  In  this  late  Christian  century  thousands 
are  still  falling  a  prey  to  the  Arab  slave-dealer.  The  Arab  will  go 
through  blood  and  fire  for  his  prize,  and  finds  a  motive  in  his  greed  of 
o-ain  which  we  fail  to  find  in  the  constraining  love  of  Him  who  came 
to  set  the  captive  free  ;  for,  in  the  heart  of  Africa,  there  are  seventy-five 
millions  of  human  beings  without  a  single  missionary, —  more  than  in 
this  whole  land  of  liberty  of  ours, —  but  no  one  to  tell  them  that  they 
are  free.  We  speak  of  the  neglected  parts  of  our  own  country,  and 
they  are  indeed  needy  and  should  have  our  support;  but  there  are 
more  Christian  workers  among  the  eight  million  negroes  of  the  South 
than  among  the  two  hundred  millions  of  all  Africa. 

India  :  one  word  will  represent  its  condition  —  "  Crisis."  It  is  said 
that  the  coming  decades  will  decide  whether  India  is  to  be  Christian  or 
agnostic.  Speaking  of  India,  Bishop  Westeott  said,  "  The  prize  is  noble 
and  the  hope  is  great,  but  the  time  is  short  and  cannot  return.  Never 
was  there  an   occasion  when  more  seemed  imperilled  in  the  faith,  the 


The  World's  Conquest.  145 

energy,  the  devotion  of  a  generation."  And  in  this  crucial  hour  how  is 
India  occupied  for  Christ  ?  Tliere  is  more  of  the  Avealth  and  effort  of 
the  kingdom  expended  on  Manhattan  Island,  in  New  York  City,  than 
in  all  India,  with  five  times  the  population  of  the  United  States. 

Look  at  China:  one  word  characterizes  it  —  "Death."  In  spite  of 
all  her  glorious  possibilities,  religiously,  socially,  and  politically,  she  is 
steeped  in  opium,  chained  to  the  religion  of  her  ancestors,  and  dead  in 
sin.  And  how  is  the  life  heing  carried  to  her  ?  If  we  had  the  propor- 
tion here  in  Detroit  that  they  have  in  China,  instead  of  seeing  these 
churches  and  Sunday  schools  and  Christian  workers,  we  would  be  in  a 
heathen  city  Avithout  a  single  missionary.  In  tiie  same  proj)ortion, 
Boston  would  have  one  minister,  and  New  York,  instead  of  five  hun- 
dred ministers  to  cope  with  its  vice,  would  have  only  five. 

Or,  to  sum  up  the  world,  Ave  find,  after  eighteen  centuries,  that  two- 
thirds  the  race  are  still  untouclied  by  the  Gospel,  and  that  there  are 
more  heathen  in  the  world  than  ever  before.  And  this  in  the  face  of 
the  one  and  only  recorded  command  which  Christ  gave  to  His  disciples 
after  He  rose  from  the  dead.  We  speak  of  continents  and  of  millions, 
but  if  we  knew  the  value  of  the  tiniest  island  of  the  sea,  if  we  knew  the 
preciousness  of  one  soul,  if  Ave  could  Aveigh  the  burden  of  sorrow  in  one 
Christless  heart  groping  in  its  loneliness,  Ave  would  then  have  a  unit 
from  which  to  com])ute  the  need  of  this  great,  aching,  sin-scarred 
world. 

But  what  is  our  relation  to  that  world  ?  Does  not  this  question 
come  home  to  each  one,  "  Where  would  God  have  me  devote  my  life- 
work  ?  "  In  answering  this  question  there  are  two  elements  which  have 
to  be  considered  :  first,  the  relative  needs  of  the  different  fields ;  and, 
secondly,  our  personal  qualifications,  or  our  ability  to  meet  those  needs. 
First,  then,  let  us  balance  the  needs  of  the  tAvo  fields.  We  have  already 
seen,  from  a  hasty  siirA^ey,  that  the  need  abroad  is  greater  numerically. 
But  that  need  is  intensified  when  we  consider  that  they  are  "  heathen 
by  necessity."  Did  not  Jesus  always  teach  that  the  preference  was  in 
fa\'or  of  the  lost  sheep  ?  He  taught  to  leaA'e  the  ninety  and  nine  in  the 
fold  and  to  go  out  into  the  Avilderness  and  find  the  one ;  but  we  leave 
the  ninety  and  nine  in  the  wilderness,  and  crowd  to  the  fold  to  feed  the 
one.  You  object  to  a  plea  for  foreign  missions  exclusiA'ely,  and  urge 
that  "  the  field  is  oneP  Why  then  are  well-nigh  forty-nine  fiftieths  of 
even  our  theological  students  croAvding  into  one  corner  of  that  world- 
field?  And  among  college  men  the  proportion  is  far  less.  In  what  is 
perhaps  the  leading  missionary  college  in  New  England,  I  found  that, 
in  the  last  fiA^e  years,  the  law  had  taken  a  thii-d  of  its  students,  business 
another  third,  medicine,  literary  work,  and  the  ministry  the  other  thu-d  ; 
and  that  less  than  one  i)er  cent,  were  preparing  for  the  foreign  field. 
It  is  then  for  the  pitifully  greater  and  yet  unrealized  and  unmet  need  of 


146  The  World's  Conquest. 

these  regions  beyond  that  we  plead.  If  you  stood,  now,  beneath  those 
hands  outstretched  toward  the  tired  world ;  if  you  could  look  but  once 
into  that  face,  lit  with  an  unutterable  love  for  the  world  for  which  He 
had  died ;  if  you  turned  from  Him  with  a  heart  burning  with  that  same 
love,  and  longing  only  to  cast  your  one  short  life  where  it  would  count 
most  for  Him, —  would  your  first  glance  be  toward  a  country  where 
already  one  in  every  five  were  His  followers,  and  the  other  four  had  all 
heard  the  story  again  and  again,  or  would  you  turn  with  a  longing  look 
toward  those  regions  beyond  where  only  one  in  fifteen  hundred  had 
found  the  Christ,  and  of  the  other  fourteen  hundred  and  ninety-nine  but 
very  few  had  even  heard  His  name  ? 

But  let  us  consider  the  second  element  —  oiu*  personal  qualifications. 
And  here  it  is  that  all  the  trouble  comes  in,  Moses  granted  the  need 
of  Israel ;  but  when  it  came  to  his  going,  he  said,  "  Lord,  who  am 
I  that  I  should  go?"  Every  talent  and  circumstance  and  prejudice 
seems  to  turn  us  from  the  more  diflicult  work.  Does  a  man  feel  that 
he  has  great  gifts  ?  They  cannot  be  spared  from  this  country.  Has 
he  little  talent?  He  cannot  go.  Has  he  had  little  experience  in  Chris- 
tian work  and  is  his  heart  cold  ?  Those  distant  millions  do  not  appeal 
to  him.  Or,  if  he  has  had  success  in  work  here,  it  is  a  call  to  stay  in 
this  country.  Is  he  poor  ?  He  must  stay  and  take  care  of  his  family. 
Is  he  rich  ?  He  must  stay  and  take  care  of  his  money.  There  are  a 
thousand  excuses  one  can  find  if  he  wants  to  find  them ;  but  there  can 
be  no  permanent  obstacle,  and  hence  no  valid  excuse,  for  the  man  whom 
God  would  have  in  the  foreign  field.  Do  not  the  two  questions  as  to 
needs  and  qualifications  resolve  themselves  to  one, — ^  namely,  "  Where 
can  I  most  advance  the  Kingdom  of  God?"  The  large  presumption, 
at  least,  seems  in  favor  of  the  foreign  field.  The  average  foreign 
missionary,  in  spite  of  the  lack  of  backing  such  as  the  home  minister 
receives,  wins  twice  as  many  souls  as  the  home  minister  does.  And 
not  only  this :  a  soul  won  there  means  a  center  of  light  in  darkness  — 
the  nucleus  of  a  future  church.  A  Christian  in  Jerusalem  meant  much ; 
but  a  Christian  in  Ephesus  meant  all  Asia  Minor  for  Christ. 

Having  considered  the  two  elements  in  the  problem,  and  having 
asked  ourselves  the  ultimate  question  as  to  the  advancement  of 
the  Kingdom  of  God,  how  shall  we  finally  decide  the  question? 
8ee7c  God''s  guidance.  Only  in  the  current  of  God's  pixrpose  will 
you  ever  find  true  success.  If  He  says  stay  in  the  home  field, 
you  have  gone  into  the  world  as  much  as  the  man  who  goes  into 
the  heart  of  Africa.  But  if  He  would  have  you  in  the  foreign  field, 
and  you  disobey  Him,  or  do  not  seek  His  guidance,  or  look  only  for 
reasons  for  staying  at  home,  and  force  yourself  into  work  of  your  own 
choosing,  you  have  missed  the  mark!  Though  you  get  the  largest 
church  in  New  York  City ;  though  your  pcAvs  be  filled  to  overflowing ; 


The  World's  Conquest.  147 

let  your  choii-  sing  ever  so  sweetly ;  and  be  your  steeple  ever  so  high, — 
you  will  never  be  able  to  make  God  forget  that  there  are  men  beyond 
the  sea  who  will  go  through  life  without  the  knowledge  of  Christ  be- 
cause you  would  not  let  Him  send  you  to  them.  You  that  are  of  legal 
mind,  look  well  before  you  go  to  set  men's  earthly  claims  right,  lest 
there  are  men  to  whom  you  might  give  a  title  for  eternity.  You  that 
are  looking  forward  to  medicine,  see  if  there  are  not  those  whom  you 
might  heal  in  both  soul  and  body.  You  who  would  teach,  before  you 
settle  back  to  the  tine  points  of  Latin  or  mathematics,  make  very  sure 
that  there  are  not  those  who,  but  for  you,  will  never  hear  of  Him  who 
alone  is  "  the  truth."  You  who  have  plans  for  a  business  career,  make 
sure,  make  very  sure,  that  it  is  your  money  that  God  wants.  It  would 
be  a  poor  return  for  the  labor  of  a  life,  to  stand  there  before  the  great 
white  throne,  with  your  money  and  reputation,  and  hence  your  heart 
left  back  on  earth ;  to  stand,  shivering  and  diminutive,  beside  some  soul 
who  had  made  himself  poor  in  the  toys  of  earth,  but  had  reaped  a  rich 
harvest  in  the  heat  of  the  day,  and  who  stood  now  towering  in  the 
fullness  of  the  statm-e  of  Christ. 

Do  not  listen  to  the  voice  of  short-sighted  selfishness.  View  things 
in  proper  perspective.  Learn  the  meaning  of  life.  Thei-e  lies  the  world 
in  all  its  need,  and  there  is  the  great  loving  heart  of  Christ  longing  to 
reach  that  world  through  you.  Does  not  His  constraining  love  appeal 
to  you  ?  Have  you  not  felt  it  in  the  messages  of  these  missionaries  ? 
Some  time  ago  I  heard  one  making  an  appeal  to  an  audience  of  stu- 
dents in  a  distant  city.  It  had  been  a  poor  talk,  and  when  his  time 
was  up  he  was  called  down  to  make  way  for  the  next  speaker.  But 
he  did  not  go.  For  a  moment  he  fumbled  with  his  watch,  and  when 
his  voice  came  again  it  was  choking.  It  was  the  last  time  he  was  going 
to  speak  in  this  country,  and  he  was  on  his  way  back  to  take  up  the 
work  of  five  men.  But  he  broke  down,  and  could  not  say  what  he 
wanted  to.  For  just  one  moment  he  felt  the  great  world's  need  and 
the  3*earning  love  of  Christ.  Do  you  suppose,  friends,  that  there  have 
been  no  tearful  eyes  among  the  missionaries  on  this  platform  ?  I  have 
seen  them.  Have  you  seen  no  eyes  closed  in  prayer?  For  whom  do 
you  suppose  they  were  j^raying?  Not  for  themselves;  but  I  fancy  they 
saw  beyond  you  the  blackness  of  the  vacancy  to  which  they  were  to 
return,  where  the  lights  are  so  very  few  and  where  yours  might  burn 
so  brightly. 

Here  is  om-  responsibility :  we  have  what  they  have  not,  the  knowl- 
edge of  Christ,  the  most  sacred  charge  that  can  be  committed  to  man, 
the  Gospel !  —  mighty  poAver,  precious  Word,  sacred  trust,  wrought  after 
centuries  of  patient  leading  of  a  chosen  people  ;  given  through  the  ston- 
ing of  the  prophets  and  the  blood  of  the  martyi's,  through  the  death  of 
the  apostles  and  the  persecution  of  His  church ;  but  more,  achieved  at 


148  The  World's  Conquest, 

last  through  that  iiever-to-be-understood  sacrifice  of  His  only  Son,  and 
consummated  in  His  resurrection.     The  last  shackle  of  restriction  and 
apparent  partiality  had  been  thrown  off.     At  last,  oh,  at  last,  the  love 
of  God  had  burst  past  the  narrow  confines  of  Judaism  in  the  glad  mes- 
sage "  To  all  the  world."  And  we  hesitate  !     Oh  the  centuries  of  Aveary 
waiting.     Oh  the  preciousness  of  the  message.     Oh  the  joy  in  telling 
it  to  weary  hearts.     And  yet  the  sluggish  apathy  with  which  we  treat 
it!     If  we  hold  our  peace  'tis  strange  that  the  very  stones  do  not  cry 
out.     If  you  are  still  in  the  darkness  of  doubt,  hear  then  the  call  from 
men   of  Macedonia  crying  to  you  in   the  night.     Hear  the  call  from 
Africa  in  the  last  message  of  the  brave  Alexander  Mackay :  "  Here  is  a 
field  for  your  energies.     Bring  with  you  your  highest  education  and 
your  greatest  talents ;  you  will  find  scope  for  them  all.     I  entreat  you 
to  leave  your  work  at  home  to  the  many  who  are  ready  to  undertake 
it,  and  to  come  forth  yourselves  to  reap  this  field."     Listen  to  the  call 
from  India  in  the  united  voice  of  the  Calcutta  Conference :  "  From  all 
parts  of  the  Indian  Empire  the  cry  is  heard  that  there  are  abundant 
openings  for  labor,  but  no  laborers  to  take  it  up.     In  the  great  Master's 
name,  with  all  the  emphasis  in  our  power,  we  urge  the  necessity  of 
every   effort  being  made  to  send  forth  a  largely  increased  number  of 
laborers  into  this  field  which  is  already  white  unto  the  harvest."'   Hear 
the  call  from  China,  from  four  hundred  and  thirty  missionaries  assem- 
bled at  Shanghai :  "  Seeing  as  we  do  the  utter  destitution  and  helpless- 
ness of  these  millions,  we  appeal  to  young  men  to  give  themselves  to 
this  work."     We  believe  that  the  great  question   with  each  of  you 
should  be,  not,  "Why  should  I  go?"  but,  "Why  should  I  not  go?" 
And,  lastly,  hear  the  call  to  the  world  —  God  grant  that  the  words  may 
come  to  you  with  as  definite  and  personal  a  call  as  to  those  who  first 
heard  them :  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world."     "  Even  so  send  I  you  into 
the  world."      "  Ye    shall  be  my    witnesses,  unto  the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  earth."   ,/ 
// 

Rev.  J.  Hudson  Taylor  then  said  :  — 

Forty  years  ago  I  landed  on  the  shores  of  China.  I  have  done  very 
little  there,  but  I  have  received  very  much.  And  I  have  learned  to 
know  something  more  of  my  Heavenly  Father  than  I  knew  forty  years 
ago.  It  is  worth  going  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  to  get  nearer  that  great 
heart  of  love.  And  the  Almighty  arm  is  linked  with  that  heart ;  when 
the  heart  moves  the  hand  always  moves.  It  is  worth  going  to  the  ends 
of  the  world  to  get  the  knowledge  of  God  that  is  not  to  be  found  in' 
ordinary  circumstances  and  surroundings. 

And  I  wish  you  knew  —  you  do  know  in  some  measure  —  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  as  a  living,  bright  reality.     Is  the  Lord  Jesus  to  you  really 


The  World's  Conquest.  149 

nearer  than  the  nearest?  Is  the  Lord  Jesus  really  dearer  than  the 
dearest  ?  Ts  it  heaven  to  hear  His  voice  ?  Would  heaven  be  nothing 
without  Him  ?  Is  earth  nothing  without  Him  to  you  ?  Oh,  beloved 
friends,  in  the  foreign  mission  field,  doing  the  will  of  God,  He  does  re- 
veal Himself,  I  want  to  be  His  witness  in  this  thing  here :  He  does 
reveal  Himself  as  a  living,  bright  reality,  a  real  person,  a  real  compan- 
ion, a  real  friend,  —  really  able  to  satisfy  our  deepest  longings,  the 
deepest  yearnings  of  the  human  lieart  in  its  moments  of  greatest  yearn- 
ing. 

I  look  back  upon  the  time  when  my  precious  children  had  to  be 
sent  away  from  the  countr}'^ ;  when  I  was  just  crushed  and  sick  and 
alone  in  the  house  in  which  loving  little  footsteps  had  been  the  great 
joy  of-  one's  life.  How  often  I  looked  up  into  my  Master's  face  and 
said,  "  Lord  Jesus,  Thou  promised  me  that  I  should  never  thirst  again, 
and  I  am  afraid  the  heart-thirst  is  coming  back  again."  But  He  filled 
it  to  overflowing.  The  joy  was  just  about  as  great  as  the  physical 
frame  could  bear  many  and  many  a  time ;  and  one  learned  to  love  the 
will  of  God,  and  to  love  it  most  when  it  costs  us  most ;  and  to  see  the 
will  of  God  as  something  so  supremely  desirable  and  glorious  that  no 
loss  is  loss  if  that  will  were  only  done.  I  want  you  to  know  that  will, 
so  that  the  attractions  of  earth  will  lose  all  theii*  brightness,  just  as  the 
world  loses  its  attractions  when  you  look  into  the  sun.  And  I  do 
earnestly  desire  that  the  result  of  this  Convention  to  many,  many  of  you 
shall  be,  that  you  may  know  the  Holy  Ghost  as  a  living  bright  reality, 
as  a  distinct  personality,  as  a  lover,  as  a  friend.  It  was  many  a  year 
after  I  was  a  Christian  before  the  Hoty  Ghost  was  more  than  an  influ- 
ence to  me.  But  it  is  so  blessed  to  know  Him  as  a  person,  to  know 
Him  as  a  guide,  as  a  leader,  a  mighty  power,  always  at  hand,  and  ready 
to  meet  our  infirmities  and  to  help  and  to  use  us.  Led  b}^  that  infalli- 
ble guide  you  will  never  be  led  astray,  and  oh.  He  will  throw  such  a 
light  on  the  precious  Word  of  God  as  will  make  it  to  you  a  new  book 
altogether. 

The  knowledge  of  God  is  all-important.  Everything  comes  in  this 
alone,  knowing  God.  This  is  the  very  object  of  eternal  life.  I  believe 
that  to  be  the  true  meaning  of  the  third  verse  of  John,  seventeenth 
chapter  :  "  And  this  is  life  eternal,  that  they  might  know  Thee  the  only 
true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ,  whom  Thou  hast  sent."  The  finite  is  very 
slow  in  taking  in  the  infinite ;  but  we  can  take  a  little  and  a  little  more 
as  by  His  grace  and  the  power  of  His  Spirit  our  knowledge  of  Him  in- 
creases. And  it  is  such  joy  to  one's  heart  to  feel  that  we  are  going  to 
be  students  through  all  eternity  ;  and  the  subject  we  are  going  to  study 
is  God  Himself,  until  our  hearts  are  filled  with  God  Himself ;  and  as  we 
know  Him  and  behold  Him  and  delight  in  Him,  and  find  what  a 
beautiful   God   we  have,  the  beauty  of  the  Lord  our  God   will  be  upon 


150  The  World's  Coxquest. 

us.  Ob,  that  is  such  a  delightful  thought !  Let  the  beauty  of  the  Lord 
our  God  be  upon  us.  May  each  one  of  us,  with  unveiled  face,  be  ever 
beholding  the  glory  of  the  Lord  and  ever  reflecting  the  glory  of  the 
Lord.  If  our  eyes  are  open  and  there  is  no  veil  between,  and  we  be- 
hold the  beauty  of  the  Lord,  we  shall  all  unconsciously  be  growing  like 
Him.  May  there  be  nothing  between  —  this  is  my  last  word  to  you 
—  oh,  don't  let  any  veil  come  between  you  and  Him  who  loves  you  so 
that  He  gave  His  well  beloved  Son  for  your  redemption,  and  then  loves 
you  so  that  He  lets  you  be  His  embassadors  and  messengers  carrying 
these  glad  tidings  to  the  souls  that  are  in  darkness  and  in  the  shadow 
of  death. 

Evening  Session. 

A  preliminary  song  service  was  led  by  Mr.  Stebbins,  who  also  led 
in  prayer. 

Mr.  John  R.  Mott  said:  — 

For  our  Scripture  lesson  to-night,  I  know  of  no  better  place  to  go 
than  to  those  words  the  Lord  Jesus  tittered  in  that  wonderful  prayer  : 
"  As  Thou  hast  sent  me  into  the  world,  even  so  have  I  also  sent  them 
into  the  world."  And  what  more  important  question  can  we  ask  our- 
selves to-night,  as  delegates,  as  we  turn  our  faces  from  here,  than  this : 
How  did  God  send  Jesus  Christ  into  the  world?  For  in  precisely 
that  same  manner  does  Jesus  Christ  send  you  and  me  out  of  this 
Convention. 

Notice,  in  the  first  place,  Christ  said,  "  The  word  which  ye  hear  is 
not  mine,  but  the  P^ather's  which  sent  me."  We  are  to  leave  this  Con- 
vention, not  with  our  own  words,  but  to  use  more  and  more  His  actual 
words  that  have  in  them  such  dynamic  and  germinating  power.  And 
then  notice  again,  Jesus  Christ  said,  "  My  teaching  is  not  mine,  but  His 
that  sent  me."  God  sent  Him  into  the  world  with  the  teaching  from 
on  high ;  and  you  and  I  are  to  go  back  to  the  colleges,  seminaries, 
and  medical  schools,  not  with  any  system  of  teaching  of  man,  but  with 
the  marvellous  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ.  And  notice  again,  Jesus 
Christ  said,  "  I  must  work  the  works  of  Him  that  sent  me,  while  it  is 
day  :  the  night  cometh,  when  no  man  can  work."  Christ  didn't  come 
into  this  world  to  do  His  own  work ;  Lie  came  into  the  world  to  do 
the  work  of  Him  that  sent  Him.  We  leave  Detroit  to-morrow,  not  to 
do  our  work,  not  to  do  the  works  of  the  Student  Volunteer  Move- 
ment, but  to  do  the  work  of  Jesus  Christ,  even  He  doing  it  in  us  and 
through  us.  And  notice  yet  again,  He  said,  "  I  came  down  from 
heaven,  not  to  do  my  own  will,  but  the  will  of  Him  that  sent  me." 
LIow  easy  it  is  for  us  to  go  out  to  try  to  do  the  Avork  of  Jesus  Christ, 


The  Worf.d's  Conquest.  151 

and  yet  to  want  to  Jo  it  in  our  own  way.  "  He  that  seeketh  His  glory 
that  sent  Hira  the  same  is  true,"  said  Jesus  Christ.  We  are  to  go  out 
in  these  efforts  to  do  the  will  of  Christ,  not  to  gather  glory  around 
our  name,  or  around  the  name  of  any  organization,  but  around  that 
wonderful  name  of  Jesus  Christ. 

And  then  in  the  last  place,  Jesus  Christ  said,  "  He  that  sent  me  is 
with  me ;  the  Father  hath  not  left  me  alone ;  for  I  do  always  the 
things  that  are  pleasing  to  Him."  Christ  came  into  this  world  not 
alone.  Oh,  delegate,  are  you  going  to  leave  this  Convention  alone? 
It  is  true  you  are  going  out  on  special  trains  with  a  whole  car  full ;  it 
is  true  you  are  going  back  with  that  delegation  of  ten,  twenty,  or  two ; 
but  you  will  separate  in  forty-eight  hours,  most  of  you.  Are  you 
going  out  alone?  What  is  the  secret  of  having  Christ  accompany  us? 
The  same  secret  which  underlies  the  Father's  accompanying  Him. 
And  what  was  that  ?  Simply  this,  explained  in  His  own  words :  "  I 
do  always  the  things  which  are  pleasing  to  Him."  Are  we  ready  to  do 
the  things  that  are  pleasing  to  Hira  ?  If  so,  He  will  be  with  us ;  and 
that  means  irresistible  power,  as  we  have  been  deeply  taught  by  many 
of  our  dear  friends  during  these  days. 

And  then  Jesus  Christ,  as  He  came  to  that  last  hour,  put  his  hands 
over  the  disciples  and  said :  "  As  my  Father  hath  sent  me,  even  so 
send  I  you.  And  when  He  had  said  this,  He  breathed  on  them,  and 
saith  unto  them,  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost."  "  As  Thou  hast  sent  me 
into  the  world,  even  so  have  1  also  sent  them  into  the  Avorld." 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Savin,  of  the  Central  Methodist  Church,  then  said  :  — 

Our  hearts  are  filled  with  gratitude  for  scores  of  reasons,  because 
of  your  presence  among  us  during  these  last  five  days.  I  rejoice 
to-night  that  because  of  your  presence  the  missionary  idea  has  been 
deepened  into  the  thought  of  the  people  of  the  city  of  Detroit.  Those 
words  spoken  by  the  Lord  Jesus  have  been  caught  up  once  more,  and 
have  been  borne  to  our  hearts  by  your  presence.  And  this  idea  of  the 
evangelization  and  Christianization  of ^ all  the  nations  on  the  face  of 
the  earth  has  been  the  sujireme  idea  in  the  city  during  the  past  week. 
We  thank  you  for  helping  us,  as  Christian  ministers  and  as  Christian 
laymen  in  this  city,  to  impress  upon  the  people  of  the  city  the  over- 
whelming passion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  save  all  men  to  Himself. 
And  we  thank  you  also  that  you  have  presented  a  solid  front  repre- 
senting Christian  unity.  I  have  not  known  to  what  denomination  you 
belong  ;  it  made  but  very  little  difference  to  me.  Christ  has  been  exalted, 
and  His  work  has  been  exalted ;  and  in  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  we  have 
met  together,  and  in  the  l)ond  of  peace,  to  sit  together  with  Him  in 
heavenly  places. 


152  The  World's  Conquest. 

But  the  one  supreme  equipment  emphasized  through  all  these  serv- 
ices has  been  the  enduement  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  fullness  of 
God  in  the  human  life.  I  thank  you,  in  the  name  of  the  Christian 
public  in  Detroit,  that  by  all  these  means  you  have  impressed  upon  us, 
permanently  I  hope,  the  one  great  fact  that  the  supreme  and  the  over- 
mastering qualification  for  every  Christian  worker,  whether  at  home  or 
abroad,  is  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  I  believe  the  world  needs 
this  more  than  ever  before.  I  believe  the  Clnirch  needs  this,  as  its 
panoply,  as  its  armor,  as  it  never  has  in  the  past.  I  believe  that  the 
aim  of  every  young  man,  when  he  enters  into  the  ministry,  is  that  he 
count  all  things  as  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ 
Jesus,  his  Lord ;  that  ambition  and  place,  and  influence  and  power,  and 
name,  and  all  things  that  the  world  might  give  him  and  that  success 
might  give  him,  shall  be  counted  as  absolutely  nothing  compared  to 
this  one  great  gift  of  God,  the  gift  of  the  H0I3'  Spirit.  And  as  you 
go  hence,  carry  the  heart  of  Detroit  with  you,  and  know  that  the 
prayer  of  Detroit  is  for  you  in  this  great  world  mission  and  in  this 
great  world  service. 

Mr.  Fred.  S.  Goodman,  Associate  State  Secretary  of  the  New  York 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  then  said:  — 

Dear  friends  of  Detroit,  it  is  a  delightful  and  difticult  undertak- 
ing to  attempt  to  express  to  you  the  gratitude  of  the  fifteen  hundred 
strangers  whom  you  have  so  kindly  received  and  entertained  during 
the  sessions  of  this  Convention. 

To  the  young  people's  societies,  to  the  churches  and  ])astors,  to  the 
entertainment  committee,  to  the  daily  ])apers,  and  to  all  who  in  any  way 
have  contributed  to  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  this  great  gathering, 
we  return  our  most  hearty  thanks. 

We  would  ask,  in  parting,  that  blessings  may  come  to  you  from  a 
quickened  and  enlarged  interest  in  the  great  work  of  this  Movement, 
and  that  you  may  receive  the  reward  of  your  hospitality  in  finding,  as 
did  the  patriarch,  that  in  entertaining  strangers,  "thereby"  you  "have 
entertained  angels  unawares." 

Mr.  John  Willis  Baer,  General  Secretary  of  United  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor,  said  :  — 

Is  it  not  true  that  the  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  is  especially 
your  friend  ?  And  are  we  not  brothers  and  sisters,  inter-state,  inter- 
provincial,  international,  intei'-denominational '?  And  as  we  stand  here 
and  see  you,  representativel}^  speaking,  by  the  thousands,  let  your 
mind's  eye  see  the  thousands  of  young  people  gathered  together, 
trusting  through  Jesus  Christ  to  do  something  to  win  this  world  back 


The  World's  Conquest.  153 

to  Plim.  Then,  indeed,  the  inspiration  gathering  from  a  meeting  like 
this  is  one  of  the  privileges  of  coming.  I  came  from  Boston  for  this 
meeting,  and  I  have  only  been  here  to-day.  I  go  to  a  great  many 
conventions,  as  you  know;  my  duties  carry  me  North,  East,  South, 
West,  and  mto  other  countries.  I  desire  to  bring  my  testimony  here 
to-night  that  in  our  consecration  meeting  this  morning  I  received  a 
benefit  and  impetus  that  I  know  will  follow  me  back  to  my  desk  in 
Boston.  If  God  will  only  help  me  be  true,  I  will  be  of  more  help 
than  ever  before  to  the  young  people  of  this  country. 

Young  men  of  Christian  Endeavor  Societies  —  I  can  speak  for 
them  I  hope,  at  least  —  are  doing  more  than  they  ever  did  to  stand  at 
your  back,  to  see  that  when  you  apply  to  your  denominational  Board 
that  the  denominational  Board  has  money  wherewith  to  send  you. 
The  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  is  in  a  unique  position.  It  does 
not  take  one  single  penny  from  a  single  individual  or  society  on  the 
face  of  the  globe,  but  it  seeks  to  stir  up  interest  among  the  young 
people  of  their  chui-ches  in  missions  and  church  work.  Nevermind 
what  has  been  done,  there  shall  be  thousands  and  thousands  of  dollars, 
so  that  when  you  come  to  get  ready  to  present  yourselves  to  your 
Board  of  your  denomination,  please  God  they  cannot  say,  "  We  would 
like  to  send  you,  but  we  have  not  the  wherewithal." 

Mr.  Mott  said  :  — 

Why  should  not  the  revival  fire  spread  through  all  the  colleges 
represented  here  within  the  next  few  weeks  ?  Why  should  we  omit 
this  glorious  opportunity  we  have '?  We  have  already  more  revivals 
in  colleges  since  the  beginning  of  the  fall  term  than  in  any  preceding 
year  in  the  history  of  American  colleges.  Let  the  work  go  on.  We 
have  had  about  fifty  missionary  societies  and  Boards  represented  in  this 
Convention.  I  wish  we  could  hear  from  every  one  of  those  to-night. 
Just  think  of  what  experience  is  represented  here.  The  oldest  mis- 
sionary society,  the  Moravian  Board,  was  represented  up  to  yesterday, 
but  the  representative  had  to  leave  ;  and  so  I  have  called  on  Dr.  Jud- 
son  Smith,  the  representative  of  the  next  oldest  Board  on  the  conti- 
nent, to  speak  a  farewell  word  for  these  various  missionary  agencies. 

The  Rev.  Judson  Smith,  D.D.,  said  :  — 

My  first  word,  speaking  for  the  honored  brethren  whom  I  represent 
and  the  Boards  in  whose  name  I  speak,  must  be  one  of  grateful  ac- 
knowledgment. It  has  been  a  great  privilege  for  us  to  sit  mth  you 
in  these  sessions,  to  share  T^ath  you  in  these  devotional  ser\-ices,  to  dis- 
cuss with  you  these  great  themes,  and  look  out  with  you,  in  the  clear 
light  that  has  been  given  here,  upon  the  wide  world  we  seek  to  bring 


154  The  World's  Conquest. 

to  its  Lord.  T  think  I  express  the  sentiment  not  alone  of  those  for 
whom  T  speak,  but  of  all  those  who  have  been  present  in  this  meeting, 
when  T  use  the  words  of  him  who  on  Bethel's  slope  saw  the  heavenly- 
vision  :  "Surely,  the  Loi'd  is  in  this  place,  and  I  knew  it  not.  *  *  * 
This  is  none  other  but  the  house  of  God,  and  this  is  the  gate  of 
Heaven."  This  is  not  the  language  of  extravagance;  it  is  but  a  feeble 
expression  of  that  privilege,  that  heavenly  opportunity  that  we,  repre- 
senting the  Boards,  and  you  as  well,  have  shared  as  we  have  sat  together 
here.  Twelve  hundred  young  people,  representing  the  colleges  from 
Maine  to  California,  from  far  beyond  the  great  lakes  to  the  gulf,  and 
all  gathered  here  under  one  impulse,  the  foreign  missionary  impulse  ! 
The  jjresident  of  this  Convention  has  very  justly  commented  upon  this. 
To  me  it  is  delightful,  but  not  surprising.  Twenty  years'  residence  at 
a  seat  of  learning  in  a  chair  of  instruction,  in  daily  contact  with  young 
people,  has  taught  me  what  we  all  must  rejoice  to  know,  that  there  is 
no  soil  so  ready  to  receive  the  seeds  of  great  ideas  and  to  bring  them 
to  the  form  of  heroic  action  as  the  young  people  that  gather  in  our 
colleges.  And  what  you,  young  people,  and  those  whom  you  repre- 
sent, landertake,  that  is  surely  going  forward  under  God  to  victory. 
You  represent  the  leaders  of  the  coming  generation,  and  you  are  de- 
voted to  foreign  missions,  and  you  are  to  bring  those  who  are  associated 
with  you  in  these  colleges  into  line ;  and  the  array  of  those  who  at 
home  and  abroad  help  to  bring  God's  kingdom  on  earth  as  it  is  in 
heaven,  their  work  is  surely  to  be  accomplished.  We  have  here  the 
presage  of  final  victory. 

Having  attended  the  convention  three  years  since  in  Cleveland,  I 
wish  to  say  a  word  to  the  officers,  to  you  Avho  have  presided  over  this 
Convention,  and  to  those  who  have  been  associated  with  you  in  the 
preparation  of  the  Convention  and  in  its  administration  here.  It  is  a 
great  success,  and  there  has  been  a  great  advance.  These  three  years 
have  been  years  of  progress,  and  we  who  come  here  representing  the 
mission  Boards,  so  profoundly  interested  in  this  Movement,  mark  a 
solidity,  an  intelligence  of  aim,  a  steadiness  of  purpose,  a  power  of  the 
Movement  upon  the  thoughts,  the  hearts,  the  convictions  of  those  that 
are  interested  in  it,  that  had  not  been  attained  three  years  ago.  We 
congratulate  you,  my  brother  [turning  toward  the  Chairman,  and 
grasping  his  hand],  upon  what  God  has  wi'oiight,  and  what  He  is 
working  through  you  and  your  associates.  And,  speaking  for  every 
one  of  the  foreign  mission  Boards,  I  bid  you  Godspeed  in  the  future. 
Our  hearts  and  our  hands  and  our  prayers  are  with  you  and  with  the 
work  God  gives  you  to  do. 

And  now,  a  word  to  the  volunteers  :  Tt  seems  idle  and  all  inade- 
quate to  say  that  the  foreign  missionary  Boards  rejoice  in  you  and  in  the 
Movement  you  represent,  and  that  we  give  you  cordial  welcome.     Why 


The  World's  Conquest.  155 

it  is  our  study,  day  by  day,  month  by  month,  and  year  by  year,  how  to 
find  and  to  bring  to  the  places  of  service  the  men  and  women  that  are 
needed  on  the  foreign  field.  It  is  like  water  to  the  thirsty  soul  to 
come  here  and  face  a  body  so  numerous,  so  widely  representative  as 
this,  and  to  feel  that  in  j'ou  we  have  not  the  enthusiasm  of  a  moment 
leading  you  to  the  work  abroad,  but  a  purpose  deUberately  formed  in 
the  silence  which  is  between  the  soul  and  its  God  when  bowed  in 
pra^'er.  We  shall  go  back  to  our  Board  rooms  with  an  inspiration  of 
courage  we  have  not  felt  before.  The  youth  of  the  land  are  awake ; 
the  voice  of  God  calling  laborers  into  His  harvest  they  have  heard,  and 
they  are  coming.  We  rejoice  that  G86  of  your  number  are  already  in 
the  field.  We  expect  to  see  many  of  you  coming,  one  by  one,  as  your 
way  shall  open,  to  our  rooms  to  consult  with  us  and  to  enroll  your 
names  at  length,  not  upon  the  list  of  volunteers,  but  among  the 
veterans  of  the  service,  who  go  to  the  front  and  bear  the  burdens  and 
do  the  work  and  reap  the  reward.  When  we  hear  the  cry  for  helpers 
coming  from  our  missions,  as  hear  it  we  often  must,  we  shall  instantly 
turn  to  you ;  and  we  shall  expect  that  you  will  come,  and  that  the  open 
door  will  never  wait  long  before  the  chosen  of  the  Lord  has  entered  in 
and  taken  up  the  work.  And  when  behind  this  cry  for  helpers  from 
our  mission  force  we  hear  that  deeper  inarticulate  cry  of  the  lost  world 
for  redemption  and  eternal  life,  we  shall  remember  you,  and  joy 
before  God  that  you  also  have  heard  the  cry,  and  that  it  is  in  your 
hearts  to  go,  and,  with  your  young  lives  before  you  for  many  years,  to 
work  the  works  of  God  in  the  lands  of  darkness.  Do  not  ever  close 
your  ears  to  that  cry  or  cease  to  hear  its  pleading.  A  world  of  dark- 
ness, a  world  of  despair,  a  world  of  death  pleads  for  help,  and  you  have 
the  Word  of  life,  the  Word  of  hope,  the  Word  of  eternal  salvation  to 
give.  Happy,  j'oung  friends,  are  you,  that  you  have  heard  the  very 
voice  of  the  Lord,  "  Go,  disciple  all  nations,"  and  that  you  answer  it 
with  joy.  It  is  the  path  of  duty  I  trust  for  many  of  you ;  and  "  The 
path  of  duty  is  the  way  to  glory."  He  who  leads  you  in  that  path, 
wherever  the  path  shall  take  you,  M^herever  the  path  shall  end,  will 
bring  you  to  service,  to  joy,  to  eternal  life.  God  grant  to  you,  to  us  all 
who  share  in  this  great  work,  when  all  our  meetings  and  all  our  part- 
ings are  over,  and  we  stand  as  God  shall  please  with  the  nations  of  the 
redeemed  before  His  throne,  God  grant  j^ou  to  hear  those  words  that 
are  the  soul's  everlasting  peace  and  measureless  reward  :  "  Well  done, 
good  and  faithful  servant,  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  th}'  Lord." 

Mr.  Gilbert  Beaver,  College  Secretary  of  Pennsylvania,  said :  — 

It  must  be  very  clear  to  us  by  this  time  that,  whether  we  are  volun- 
teers for  foreign  missions  or  not,  we  all  of  us  have  a  most  important 


156  The   World's  Coxquest. 

part  in  carrying  out  the  purpose  tliat  is  summed  up  in  the  watch-cry  of 
the  Student  Yohmteer  Movement.  We  know  very  well  how  vital  is 
the  relation  between  the  efficient  work  of  the  volunteers  at  the  front  of 
the  battle  and  the  loyalty  and  the  enthusiasm  of  those  who  stay  at  home 
to  furnish  the  supplies.  We  tiu-n  our  faces  to-morrow  to  294  institu- 
tions, centei-s  of  influence,  through  which  are  passing  not  only  those 
who  are  to  go  to  the  front  of  the  battle,  but  those  who  are  to  remain 
as  the  leaders  of  the  Church  at  home.  And  so,  whether  we  are  ever  to 
pass  out  into  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth  or  not,  we  have  certainly, 
in  the  light  of  what  Dr.  Smith  has  just  said,  a  most  important  part  to 
play  while  within  college  walls  in  the  evangelization  of  the  world  in 
this  generation.  Do  we  go  back  there  with  any  real  convictions  on 
foreign  missions  ?  Doubtless  we  all  suppose  that  we  do.  But  have  we 
really  deep  convictions  that  will  live  in  spite  of  the  pressure  and  dis- 
tractions that  will  be  crowded  in  upon  us,  and  that  will  be  as  firm,  aye, 
firmer  at  Commencement  Day  than  they  are  to-night  ?  If  we  are  to 
have  those  deepening  convictions  Ave  must  go  back  to  study  missions. 
The  man  in  the  front  may,  from  his  very  contact  with  the  destitution, 
be  forced  to  feel  the  reality  of  this  problem.  But  how  much  more  must 
those  of  us  at  a  distance  from  the  a\A"ful  needs  take  advantage  of  our 
opportunities  for  study. 

And,  furthermore,  if  these  are  real  convictions,  they  must  have  ex- 
pression in  the  life  of  our  institutions ;  and  if  the  missionary  meeting  is 
a  mere  formal  matter  of  minor  importance,  then,  Avhether  we  are  vol- 
unteers or  not  volunteers,  it  is  for  us  to  make  that  meeting  second  to 
none  in  interest  and  in  power.  And  if  there  is  no  missionary  alcove  in 
our  college  association  or  in  the  library  of  the  institution,  it  is  for  us 
who  appreciate  the  need  to  see  that  it  is  provided.  And,  more  than  this, 
if  our  heart  is  to  reach  out  in  sympathy  for  the  whole  world,  if  it  is  to 
follow  our  treasure  as  surely  in  these  things  as  in  all  other  things,  Ave 
must  give  not  only  of  our  time  but  of  our  means.  And  then,  as  we 
really  have  our  hearts  fixed  on  these  places,  and  as  we  see  the  multitudes 
distressed  and  scattered  as  sheep  not  haA'ing  a  shepherd,  Ave  shall  be  able 
to  enter  into  the  sympathy  of  Christ  in  the  prayer  for  laborers,  —  one 
of  the  few  things  lie  expressly  enjoined  us  to  pra}-  for, —  and  Avith  ever 
deepening  convictions  we  shall  pray  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  to  send 
out  from  our  colleges  more  laborers  into  His  liarA^est.  And  if  Ave  really 
pray  that  prayer  it  may  not  be  long  before  we  also  shall  be  volunteers. 
It  certainly  Avill  mean  a  willingness  to  be  thrust  forth  if  He  chooses 
thus  to  answer  our  prayers.  If  Ave  Avill  thus  study,  and  thus  preach 
and  teach  the  couA'ictions  our  study  l)rings,  and  if  we  Avill  give  of  our 
means  and  liaA'e  our  fellow-students  give  of  theirs,  and  follow  om-  giving 
with  our  prayers,  we  shall  be  in  just  that  proportion  furthering  the 


The  World's  Conquest.  157 

purposes  of  this  Movement  and  hastening  the  clay  wlieii  its  watch-cry 
will  1)0  an  accomplished  fact. 

Mr.  Mott  then  said  :  — 

T  regret  that  we  are  now  to  hear  for  the  last  time  om-  dear  friend 
that  has  come  to  us  from  across  the  sea,  re])resenting  the  British  Student 
Volunteer  Missionary  Union.  It  was  a  great  sacrifice  that  he  was  re- 
leased from  his  engagements  among  the  British  Universities  to  bring  us 
greetings.  He  has  to  hasten  hack  in  a  few  days.  I  wisli  he  could  visit 
every  college  in  the  country,  but  that  will  be  impossible.  I  will  call 
upon  Mr.  Fraser  to  give  us  a  few  farewell  words. 

Mr.  Donald  Fraser,  Traveling  Secretary  of  the  Student's  Volunteer 
Missionary  Union  of  Great  Britain,  then  said :  — 

Fellow  students,  I  shall  go  back  to  Britain  Avith  new  inspiration 
from  this  Conference,  and  Avith  the  hope  that  3'ou  have  gained  from  this 
Conference  greater  strength  and  union  and  mutual  confidence,  and  that 
you  have  entered  upon  a  neAV  era  in  the  history  of  your  Movement.  I 
should  like  to  leave  a  message  to  the  volunteers  and  those  Avho  are  not 
yet  volunteers,  as  the  most  important  message  upon  my  mind.  For 
those  who  are  volunteers :  you  ha^e  felt  A'ery  much  inspired  during 
these  meetings ;  you  are  afraid  that  when  you  go  back  to  the  ordinary 
routine  of  college  life  your  inspii'ation  may  die  out.  To  maintain  our 
inspiration  and  enthusiasm,  I  should  say,  keep  in  touch  with  the  foreign 
field  and  keep  in  touch  with  God.  I  fancy  you  desire  to  be  mission- 
aries because,  during  these  days,  while  Ave  haA^e  been  Ustening  to  mis- 
sionaries speaking,  we  ourselves  seemed  to  have  been  walking  through 
the  darkness  of  Africa,  and  the  sin  and  prejudice  of  India  and  China, 
and  our  hearts  have  been  touched  and  broken  like  God's  Himself.  And, 
just  as  in  the  Christian  life  a  man  can  only  maintain  an  enthusiastic 
faith  in  Christ  by  constantly  living  in  touch  with  Christ  and  Avorking 
for  Christ,  so  Ave  can  only  maintain  enthusiasm  for  foreign  fields  by  liv- 
ing in  constant  touch  Avith  the  Avork  in  heathen  lands.  My  message  to 
you  then  would  be,  just  as  the  cause  of  missionary  indifference  is  mis- 
sionary ignorance,  the  cause  of  missionary  fire  will  be  missionaiy  infor- 
mation. And  if  we  keep  ourselves  acquainted  with  the  passing  events 
of  heathendom,  then  our  hearts  will  be  always  on  fire. 

Let  us  keep  ourselves  in  touch  with  God.  We  are  just  now  mak- 
ing our  intellectual  and  practical  preparation  for  foreign  mission  work ; 
but  don't  let  us  forget  the  omnipotent  spiritual  equipment.  I  have 
heard  of  a  lady  Avho  Avent  to  China  when  well  on  in  years.  She  was 
asked  why  she  was  so  long  in  going.  Her  reply  was,  because  that 
hitherto  she  had  not  had  a  salvation  worth  passing  on.     How  many 


158  The  World's  Conquest. 

have  lost  their  enthusiasm  for  foreign  missions  because  they  have  not  had 
a  salvation  worth  passing  on.  Some  men  have  become  alarmed  over  the 
Parliament  of  Religions,  and  have  lost  their  enthusiasm  for  Christian 
work.  I  am  glad  of  that  Parliament ;  I  am  glad  to  see  heathen  religions 
glorified ;  I  hate  to  see  them  ridiculed,  for,  however  absurd  they  may 
be  for  us,  they  are  intensely  real  for  the  heathen.  But  it  seems  to  me, 
no  matter  how  high  their  ethical  systems  may  seem,  if  we  have  a  living 
Christ  who  is  our  whole  life  and  salvation,  we  have  a  divine  impulse 
which  should  impel  us  to  become  foreign  missionaries.  In  one  of  the 
most  impressive  meetings  at  Keswick  very  solemn  testimonies  were 
given.  One  man,  who  was  a  lecturer  in  philosophy,  gave  this  as  his 
testimony :  "  Hitherto  I  have  had  a  Christ  of  philosophy.  At  Kes- 
wick I  have  met,  to  my  surprise,  a  living  Christ ;  and  religion  is  going 
to  be  a  new  thing  to  me."  Oh,  brothers,  don't  let  us  go  out  to  the 
foreign  field  so  long  as  we  have  not  met  and  had  personal  dealing  with 
a  living  Christ.  Some  of  us  have  our  spiritual  life  depending  upon 
conventions  and  artificial  means  for  elevating  the  spiritual  tone.  Let 
no  man  go  to  the  foreign  field  until  he  has  learned  to  stand  alone  with 
God,  getting  his  inspiration  and  power  from  personal  contact  with  God 
alone. 

Then,  my  last  word  to  those  who  are  not  volunteers  is  this :  We 
are  just  now  in  the  midst  of  a  great  crisis  that  has  been  pointed  out  to 
us.  Perhaps  never  since  the  world  was  created  were  Christian  men  in 
the  midst  of  so  great  an  opportunity.  And  now  other  forces  are  be- 
ginning to  take  advantage  of  this  opportunity.  Commerce  has  found 
itself  jostled  at  home,  and  is  stretching  out  its  long  arms  into  the 
distant  parts  of  the  world.  But,  long  before  commerce  has  entered, 
Chi'ist's  pioneers  ought  to  be  there,  making  the  people  wise  to  accept 
w^hat  is  good  and  reject  what  is  evil,  or  the  people  will  disappear 
before  the  advancing  tide  of  civilization.  The  Roman  Catholics  ai'e 
active.  During  my  visit  to  the  Irish  colleges,  I  found  the  Irish  Pres- 
byterian Church  for  two  years  had  been  appealing  for  five  volunteers 
for  their  mission  field  and  could  not  get  them.  I  found  that,  during  those 
last  two  years,  quietly,  without  any  demonstration,  two  hundred  Jesuit 
missionaries  had  gone  out  from  Cork  to  evangelize  the  world.  They 
are  in  the  Sahara,  in  Thibet,  in  China,  and  India;  and  if  we  are  to 
save  the  world  for  Jesus  Christ,  we  must  be  up  and  doing.  The  Mo- 
hammedans too  are  busy.  Mackay  wrote  home,  that  the  next  ten  years 
will  decide  whether  Islam  or  Christ  Avill  rule  Africa.  Oh,  brothers,  we 
have  enough  blood  on  our  souls  from  the  past  neglect  of  the  last  eight- 
een hundred  years ;  and  if  we  are  to  save  ourselves  from  the  terrible 
record  of  lost  ojiportunity,  it  must  be  by  seizing  this  present  crisis,  and 
by  every  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ  who  has  got  his  life  unfettered,  and 
his  future  stretching  before  him,  dedicating  his  life  on  the  altar,  and 


The  World's  Conquest.  159 

going  out  to  be  a  foreign  missionary.  Other  sounds  may  still  fill  our 
ears ;  we  may  not  have  heard  the  cry  of  the  heathen.  But  still,  while 
we  have  been  sitting  here,  more  than  four  hundred  thousand  Christless 
souls  have  passed  into  eternity.  Our  meetings  have  not  been  reckoned 
simply  by  the  days  and  hours  that  have  passed,  but  by  the  blood  of 
these  neglected,  ignorant  souls.  Shall  we  not  do  what  we  can  that 
Christ's  command  may  be  obeyed,  and  the  world  may  know  that  Christ 
is  King,  and  that  He  is  the  Saviour  of  the  world ! 

Mr.  Mott  then  said :  — 

The  calls  have  been  many  and  loud.  Here  is  another,  which  came 
since  we  assembled,  a  cable  message  from  Calcutta,  India,  signed  by 
two  of  the  former  Traveling  Secretaries  of  the  Movement : 

"  India  needs  now  one  thousand  Spirit-filled  volunteers. 

Robert  P.  Wilder. 
J.  Campbell  White." 

There  has  also  come  an  appeal,  signed  by  eighty  of  the  more  than 
one  hundred  volunteers  who  are  already  on  the  field  of  India,  in  which 
is  expressed  their  earnest  longing  for  more  laborers.  They  announce 
the  many  openings  for  preachers,  teachers,  physicians,  Zenana- workers, 
and  authors.  They  encourage  the  conviction  that  marvellous  changes 
are  at  hand.  And  they  beg  that  hundreds  of  our  number,  with  the 
Holy  Spirit  dwelling  in  their  hearts,  may  respond  to  the  motto  of  the 
year,  "  To  the  Fields,"  and  come  to  the  front  at  once. 

Mr.  James  E.  Adams,  as  the  representative  of  the  theological  sem- 
inaries of  the  United  States  and  Canada  on  the  Executive  Committee, 
said  :  — 

A  Call  From  The  Field. 

I  think  there  could  be  no  more  appropriate  text  for  the  message 
which  I  bring  to  you  to-night  than  the  call  from  the  field  to  go.  There 
is  the  last  point  of  peril  in  the  life  of  the  volunteer  and  in  the  Volun- 
teer Movement ;  there  is  the  crucial  point.  It  is  one  thing  to  resolve, 
it  is  one  thing  to  purpose,  but  it  is  another  thing  to  go.  Between  the 
proposition  and  the  action  is  a  last  step  where  the  enemy  makes  his 
last  stand,  and  the  place  where  lie  must  fall.  If  the  Volunteer  Move- 
ment means  anything,  it  means  that  it  is  a  movement  to  an  end :  it 
means  that  the  volunteer  has  volunteered  for  a  purpose.  God  cannot 
guide  a  man  who  refuses  to  walk.  The  very  voice  of  God  had  a  ring 
of  indignation  in  it  when  He  spoke  to  Moses :  "  Wherefore  criest  thou 
unto  Me  ?  speak   unto  the   children    of  Israel,  that  they  go  forward." 


160  Thk  World's  Conquest. 

It  is  not  the  fervency  of  our  {)i-ayers  for  the  heathen  that  is  the  true 
test  of  our  sincerity.  The  Pharisees  prayed  long  and  loud  in  the  cor- 
ners, and  thought  they  commended  themselves  to  God  for  so  doing. 
And  I  have  known  many  a  man  that  was  so  in  the  habit  of  waking  up 
his  own  emotions  in  prayer,  that  he  thought  that  that  was  laying  up 
power  with  God.  That  is  not  power  with  God.  It  is  not  the  warmth 
and  zeal  of  our  professions  of  interest  in  missions  that  is  the  true  test 
of  our  sincerity.  I  met,  in  my  tour  of  the  colleges,  a  man  who  in  the 
very  midst  of  his  prayer  and  protestation  and  consecration  to  God, 
deliberately  cut  himself  off  from  possibility  of  use  with  God.  He 
prayed  and  stood  still ;  he  protested,  and  refused  to  follow.  Not  what 
we  say,  not  what  we  pray,  but  what  we  do,  is  God's  test.  He  has  but 
one  ;  He  has  used  it  in  all  ages  ;  it  is  the  same  forever  :  "  Go  forward, — 
go  forward."  We  have  not  volunteered  for  camp-fires.  We  have  not 
volunteered  for  ratification  meetings  or  even  for  conventions.  We 
have  volunteered  for  service  at  the  front ;  and  until  we  are  at  the 
front  the  purpose  for  which  we  volunteered  has  not  been  realized. 

In  a  Russian  village  there  was  a  nobleman  into  whose  hands  came 
a  cargo  load  of  grain  for  the  starving  peasants.  He  stored  it  up  in  his 
own  granary.  Day  by  day  the  faces  of  the  peasants  began  to  grow  a 
little  more  wan :  day  by  day  a  hungry  look  came  into  their  eyes,  and 
they  drew  the  hunger-belt  a  little  tighter.  Day  by  day  they  dropped 
by  the  wayside,  and  furnished  food  for  the  famishing  wolf.  The  grain 
was  there  just  the  same,  and  they  died  just  the  same.  But  did  that 
alter  that  man's  responsibility  to  his  God  V  Friends,  seminary  students, 
you  who  are  free  when  you  get  through  your  seminary  course  and  say 
to  yourself,  "I  will  wait  a  year,  I  will  wait  two  years,"  remember 
that  in  heathen  lands  they  are  dying  all  the  time. 

Fellow  students,  even  as  the  Master  set  His  face  steadfastly  with 
determined  purpose,  even  as  His  face  was  set  toward  Jerusalem,  let 
our  faces  be  set  towards  the  foreign  field.  They  perish  just  the  same. 
Christ  went  up ;  let  us  go  up.  Let  us  have  the  same  holy  ambition 
with  which  the  great  apostle  was  consumed  when  he  said,  "  To  whom 
He  was  not  spoken  of,  they  shall  see ;  and  they  that  have  not  heard 
shall  understand."  And  then  let  our  faces,  even  as  the  faces  of 
hundreds,  aye  of  some  thousands,  in  this  country  are  set,  let  our  faces  be 
set  toward  the  foreign  field.  For  the  command  of  God  is  upon  us,  the 
hand  of  God  is  upon  us ;  and  let  no  hand  but  that  hand  turn  us  from 
our  way. 

Mr.  Mott  asked  how  many  volunteers  or  students  present  expected 
to  go  out  to  the  foreign  field  within  the  next  year,  and  requested  such 
to  stand  and  remain  standing  until  counted.  Over  sixty  responded. 
The  answers  indicated  tJie  expectation  or  desire  of  twenty-six  to  go  to 


The  World's  Conquest.  161 

China  ;  four  to  West  Africa ;  three  to  India ;  two  to  Japan ;  one  each 
to  Africa,  Alaska,  Bogota,  Jamaica,  Korea,  Laos,  Mexico,  Siam,  and 
Turkey.  Others  did  not  know  their  future  fields,  but  wish  to  go  where 
life  will  count  most  for  Christ. 

A  few  of  the  responses  were  as  follows  :  — 

"  I  hope  to  go  to  China,  because  millions  are  dying  every  month 
without  knowing  that  Christ  died  to  save  them." 

"  I  expect  to  go  to  Mexico  to  help  put  down  the  idolatry  of  the 
papacy." 

"  I  want  to  go  where  my  life  will  count  most  for  Christ." 

"  I  will  go  where  I  am  sent ;  I  will  take  the  hardest  place  I  can  find." 

"  I  hope  to  go  to  Laos.  It  seems  to  me  as  if  that  word,  '  Go  you  ' 
comes  to  me  as  '  Go  thou.'  " 

"  I  am  going  to  Alaska,  because,  although  I  want  to  go  into  a  for- 
eign field,  I  know  God  wants  me  in  Alaska." 

"  Six  years  ago  the  Lord  put  it  upon  my  heart  to  go  to  the  Island 
of  Jamaica." 

"  To  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  because  there  the  door  is  open  to  me." 

"  To  the  west  coast  of  Africa.  Five  years  ago  I  wanted  to  go  to 
India,  but  when  om*  missionary  returned  from  Africa  he  said,  '  We 
want  a  man,'  and  I  want  to  go." 

Mr.  Lyon  :  "  I  want  to  go  to  China,  becaiise  7,999  out  of  every  8,000 
are  not  Christians  ;  because  there  is  only  one  ordained  missionary  there 
for  every  half  million." 

Mr.  Adams  :  "  I  desire  to  go  to  Formosa." 

Mrs.  Adams :  "  I  hope  to  go  to  India,  for  the  sake  of  Christ  and 
India's  women  and  girls,  because  God  has  called  me,  and  I  dare  not 
disobey  if  I  would." 

"  I  go  to  China,  because  I  think  the  needs  of  China  are  even  greater 
than  those  of  my  own  native  state,  Texas." 

"  I  go  to  Africa,  because  Africa  means  opportunity  and  urgency." 

"  China,  because  God  has  made  me  to  love  the  Chinese,  and  because 
He  has  opened  up  the  way  for  me  to  go  ;  because  I  believe  I  can  do  the 
most  good  for  God  and  humanity  by  going  there." 

"China,  because  I  believe  it  is  the  Lord's  purpose  concerning  me." 

"  To  China,  because  the  need  is  so  great  and  they  have  waited  so 
long." 


162  The  World's  Conquest. 

"  I  hope  to  go  to  China.  Jesus  came  here  for  me,  and  I  think  it  is 
His  desire  that  I  should  go  to  China." 

Mr.  Mott  then  said :  — 

There  is  another  very  important  question  I  should  like  to  ask,  and 
not  be  misunderstood'  in  asking  it,  as  I  ask  it  in  the  right  spirit.  We 
should  like  to  know  how  many  students  have  decided  during  the  days 
of  this  Convention  to  become  foreign  missionaries  as  the  result  of  study 
and  thought,  quietly,  and  without  any  pressure ;  and  whether  they 
have  made  this  decision,  and  have  showed  it  by  signing  the  Volunteer 
Declaration  or  not:  will  as  many  as  have  reached  the  decision  that 
it  is  their  purpose,  if  God  permit,  to  become  foreign  missionaries, 
kindly  stand? 

We  count  at  least  thu-ty-one  who  have  been  led,  we  trust,  by  the 
Spirit  of  missions  Himself  into  this  great  decision  ;  and  there  are  others 
who  are  going  to  decide  not  now,  but  as  the  result  of  the  influences 
emanating  from  this  Convention.  I  tremble  for  the  spirit  that  runs 
away  from  the  Spirit  of  God.  Let  us  follow,  gladly,  willingly,  and  as 
rapidly  as  His  Providence  will  let  us,  His  leading  during  these  dark 
days. 

Mr.  Robert  E.  Speer  made  the  closing  address  of  the  Convention 
as  follows :  — 

Two  of  the  three  evangelists  who  preserve  for  us  the  record  of  the 
transfiguration  of  our  Lord,  add  a  touch  in  the  story  of  what  just  fol- 
lowed it  that  is  omitted  by  the  evangelist  Luke.  The  whole  account 
is  one  of  the  most  familiar  ones  in  the  Gospels.  Our  Lord  had  taken 
three  of  the  disciples  who  stood  closest  to  Him,  and  had  invited  them 
to  accompany  Him  to  the  mountain  top,  where  in  their  presence  He 
was  changed,  and  the  fashion  of  His  countenance  altered,  and  His  gar- 
ments became  white  and  glistening,  as  no  fuller  on  earth  can  whiten 
them.  And,  as  He  led  those  same  three  disciples  down  from  the 
mountain  top  to  the  busy  influences  of  the  anxious,  hurrying,  sin-smitten 
world,  they  saw  the  other  nine  waiting  at  the  foot  with  a  great  throng 
of  people  surrounding  them,  and  a  man  upon  whom  all  must  have  had 
pity,  who  sat  there  helpless  and  hopeless  with  his  lunatic  son  before 
them.  In  a  moment  the  throng  saw  Jesus  approaching  and  told  Him 
the  whole  story.  Luke  implies,  with  one  of  his  peculiar  touches,  that, 
as  it  was  the  man's  only  son  they  thought  He  Himself  might  do  some- 
thing to  help  him,  the  disciples  having  failed.  And  the  Lord  laid  His 
hand  on  the  lunatic  son  and  healed  him.  One  can  imagine,  without 
very  much  difficulty,  the  crestfallen  apostles,  who  had  tried  to  handle 
the    case  themselves,  falling   behind  the  three   closest  to  Jesus   and 


The  World's  Conquest,  163 

saying,  as  speedily  as  possible,  "  Now,  Master,  what  was  the  matter  ? 
Why  could  not  we  do  that?  We  have  healed  a  great  many  difficult 
cases  before,  and  when  that  case  was  brought  to  us  we  did  just  as  we 
have  done  the  other  times.  Why  weren't  we  able  to  heal  that  man  ?  " 
Jesus  might  have  said,  "  Well,  your  spiritual  lives  were  not  deep 
enough."  He  might  have  said,  "  If  you  had  had  the  exjjerience  which 
Peter  and  these  two  others  have  had  perhaps  you  might  have  healed 
him."  lie  might  have  said,  "  You  did  not  have  a  clear  and  full  enough 
vision  of  me  at  the  time."  But  He  did  not  say  any  such  thing.  He 
put  it  upon  the  ground  that  they  lacked  the  qualifications  for  normal 
Christian  service ;  that  they  did  not  have  enough  faith.  "  If  ye  had 
faith  as  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  ye  might  say  unto  this  sycamine  tree, 
Be  thou  plucked  up  by  the  root,  and  be  thou  planted  in  the  sea  ;  and 
it  should  obey  you."  He  did  not  make  success  in  service  dependent 
upon  the  strength  of  spiritual  experiences  ;  He  did  not  make  fidelity  in 
doing  His  will  conditional  upon  great  emotional  visions  of  Him.  He 
conditioned  it  upon  simple,  every  da}'^  faith. 

And,  fellow  students,  we  have  need  of  the  lesson.  We  shall  go 
down  to-morrow  morning  from  the  mountain  top,  on  which  we  have 
seen  His  face  aglow,  and  His  raiment  whitened  whiter  than  any  fuller 
on  earth  can  whiten  it,  and  we  shall  touch  on  every  side  the  old  lives 
that  we  used  to  touch,  and  shall  feel  the  chill  of  the  world's  cold  in- 
difference or  enmity.  Our  success  in  doing  service  will  not  depend 
upon  what  we  saw  here ;  it  will  not  be  helped  permanently  by  any 
large  temporary  increase  of  spiritual  vigor  that  came  to  us  here.  It 
will  depend  then,  as  it  did  before  we  came  to  this  Convention,  on  the 
normal,  simple  daily  faith  of  our  Christian  lives.  And  I  think  we  have 
need  to  learn  the  lesson  a  little  more,  perhaps,  because  this  Convention 
has  so  far  surpassed  that  first  one,  when  we  gathered  together  like  one 
great,  simi:)le  family  in  Cleveland  three  years  ago.  There  has  been  so 
much  success  given  to  the  Movement  since,  there  has  been  so  much 
power  revealed  in  this  meeting,  that  some  will  be  apt  to  trust  too  much 
to  the  Movement.  A  Southern  college  professor,  a  warm  friend  of 
students,  said  the  other  day  that  the  thought  of  separating  at  the  close 
of  this  meeting  went  to  his  heart,  because  we  felt  so  closely  united 
here,  and  are  as  one  fulfilling  Christ's  prayer.  x\nd  now  to-morrow 
morning  we  shall  be  severed  into  forty  or  fifty.  The  fact  that  we 
feel  this  unity  here  to-night  -will  make  us,  when  we  go  away,  rely  upon 
the  power  of  this  Movement  which  makes  such  unity  possible.  Such 
reliance  is  vain.  I  think  we  need  to  be  reminded  of  the  words  of 
Francis  Lieber,  that  great  truths  are  likel}'  to  dwell  a  long  time  with 
small  minorities.  We  shall  get  most  strength  and  most  help  if  we  do 
not  persuade  ourselves  these  last  days  that  we  are  jjax-t  of  a  large 


164  The  World's  Conquest. 

'Y^movement,  l)ut  remember,  instead,  that  we  are  part  of  the  forsaken  and 
the  cast  out  Christ. 

It  is  fortunate,  too,  that  this  evening's  service  has  made  us  quiet 
and  receptive ;  that  the  spirit  of  parting  has  soothed  and  tempered  us 
to  learn  from  Christ  some  lesson  that  shall  not  be  ephemeral,  sporadic. 
There  is  no  shame  in  the  sadness  of  farewell.  The  Apostle  Paul  was 
not  ashamed  "when,  parting  at  Miletus,  his  friends  wept  upon  his  heck; 
and  Simon  Peter  showed  not  the  weakness  but  the  strength  of  his 
character  w^hen  he  vowed  that  he  would  accompany  Jesus  both  to 
prison  and  to  death  rather  than  be  separated  from  Him.  Although  it 
was  weak  from  a  certain  point  of  view  in  Thomas,  his  words  yet  showed 
how  that  little  company  hated  to  be  away  from  Christ,  when  he  heard 
His  resolution  to  visit  the  house  of  Lazarus,  and  said,  "  Let  us  also  go, 
that  we  may  die  with  Llim."  It  may  be  that  our  hearts  are  readier 
to-night  to  draw  away  from  the  influence  a  large  throng  carries  with  it, 
to  listen  quietly  and  alone  for  the  voice  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Perhaps  most  of  us  will  be  content  with  the  voice  He  speaks  first 
to  His  disciples,  "  Follow  me."  Whenever  He  saw  them  it  was  His 
first  w-ord.  As  He  addressed  Matthew,  sitting  at  the  receipt  of  cus- 
toms, and  Peter  and  his  brother  in  the  little  fishing  smacks  on  the 
sea,  it  was  the  same  command,  "  Follow  me."  His  use  of  the  word  to 
Simon  Peter,  in  that  marvellous  scene  described  in  the  twenty-first 
chapter  of  John,  is  no  disproof  that  it  was  His  first  word  to  His  dis- 
ciples ;  for  He  seemed  there  to  remind  Peter  that  he  needed  to  learn 
over  again  the  first  principles  of  the  Gospel :  "  If  I  will  that  he  tarry 
till  I  come,  what  is  that  to  thee  ?  follow  thou  me."  If  any  man  or  any 
woman  goes  away  from  this  meeting  having  heard  the  voice  of  Jesus 
Christ  saying,  "  Follow  me,"  and  away  down  in  the  depths  of  life  has 
answered  that  voice  and  resolved  to  follow,  it  matters  not  whether 
you  know  where  you  go,  only  so  you  follow  Him ;  it  matters  not  what 
comes,  all  is  peace  and  i)ower. 

"  So  I  go  on  not  knowing; 
I  would  not  if  I  might. 
I  would  rather  walk  in  tlie  dark  Avitli  God, 
Than  walk  alone  in  the  light; 
I  would  rather  walk  with  Him  by  faith, 
Than  walk  alone  by  sight." 

But  He  had  a  word  for  disciples  that  was  larger  and  richer  than 
that.  After  John's  disciples  had  come  to  Him  from  prison,  and  He 
made  that  pathetic,  child-like  prayer,  thanking  His  Father  because  He 
had  hid  these  things  from  the  wise  and  prudent  and  had  revealed  them 
unto  babes,  He  turned  to  the  multitude  of  those  who  had  need  and 
said,  not  "  Follow  me,"  l)ut,  "  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are 
heavy-laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest.     Take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and 


The  WouLTi's  Coxquest.  165 

learn  of  me."  You  may  follow  at  a  distance.  They  did  follow  Jesus 
so,  when  He  was  led  out  to  the  brow  of  Calvary.  But  you  cannot 
come  to  Jesus  and  be  far  away,  and  you  cannot  learn  from  Ilim  and 
not  be  very  near.  And  those  of  us  who  have  caught  that  voice,  and 
have  resolved  in  these  days  to  follow,  have  learned  much  if  we  have 
decided  also  to  learn  of  Him.  How  marvellously  He  will  teach  us 
in  that  school  of  prayer  which  He  opened  years  and  years  ago  when 
His  disciples,  anxious  to  be  taught  to  pray  even  as  John  taught  his 
disciples,  came  to  Him  saying,  "  Lord,  teach  us  to  pray."  How  mar- 
vellously He  will  teach  us  in  that  school  of  humility  in  which  He 
taught  when  He  took  a  little  child  and  told  them,  "  Of  such  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  And  how  lovingly  He  will  teach  us  to  serve,  as 
He  repeats  in  our  lives  the  scene  at  the  supper,  and  in  our  ears  His 
divine  words,  "  I  am  among  you  as  He  that  serveth."  Tf  we  have 
learned  to  be  infants  in  the  kindergarten  of  the  Master  teacher,  we 
have  learned  where  and  how  to  learn. 

But  He  has  a  deeper  word  even  than  this  for  the  man  that  will 
take  it  from  Him  :  "  Abide  in  me,  and  I  in  you.  As  the  branch  can- 
not bear  fruit  of  itself,  except  it  abide  in  the  vine ;  no  more  can  ye 
except  ye  abide  in  me.  I  am  the  vine,  ye  are  the  branches :  He  that 
abideth  in  me,  and  I  in  him,  the  same  bringeth  forth  much  fruit :  for 
without  me  ye  can  do  nothing."  It  will  be  much  to  us  to  gain  the  larger 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  will  be  more,  fellow  students,  if  any  of 
us  have  not  yet  learned  to  abide  in  Christ,  to  obey  that  message  of  His 
and  say,  "  Yes,  Thou  true  vine,  I  will  abide  in  Thee."  Very  few  of  us 
will  ever  be  conspicuous  in  Christian  service.  Very  few  of  us  will 
ever  be  picked  out  as  men  and  women  of  exceptional  gifts  whom  God 
has  used  in  marvellously  exceptional  ways.  We  must  be  content  to 
bear  that  fruit  which  comes  from  simple  abiding  in  Him,  and  from 
our  trust  and  confidence  in  His  Avord,  which  He  has  said  shall  not 
return  unto  Him  void. 

In  George  Bowen's  wa-itings  there  is  a  word  spoken  out  of  his 
experience  covering  just  this  truth  :  "  It  apj^ears  to  me  now  that  the 
highest  style  of  Christian  in  God's  sight  is  one  who  lives  in  the  wise 
exercise  of  his  powers,  sparing  himself  not  at  all,  doing  all  to  produce 
great  and  immediate  results,  yet  esteeming  that  in  God's  favor  is  his 
life,  repining  not  when  there  is  no  appearance  of  fruit,  and  willing  to 
be  thought  unprofitable  by  the  Church."  But  what  Hfe  is  there  here 
to-night  that  has  not  been  touched  and  influenced  by  him  of  whom 
Bishop  Taylor  spoke  as  the  Lamb  of  India.  Years  and  years  ago  an 
old  Puritan  wrote  a  book  called  "  The  Bruised  Reed,"  and  passed  away 
thinking  his  life  had  been  unprofitable  to  the  Lord.  A  humble  lay- 
man gave  a  copy  of  this  to  a  small  boy  at  whose  father's  house  he  had 
spent  the  night.     The  boy  was  Richard  Baxter,  and  the  book  led  him 


166  The  World's  Conquest. 

to  Clirist.  Baxter  wrote  his  "  Call  to  the  Unconverted,"  and  Philip 
Doddridge  was  among  the  multitude  brought  to  God  through  it.  Dod- 
dridge wrote  the  "  Kise  and  Progress  of  lieligion  in  the  Soul,"  and 
its  blessed  power  is  unabated.  Wilberforce  was  converted  by  it,  and 
he  helped  to  strike  the  shackles  from  English  slaves,  while  he  led  Dr. 
Chalmers  into  the  truth  and  Legh  Richmond  to  Christ  by  his  "  Practi- 
cal View  of  Christianity,"  Richmond  wrote  "  The  Dairyman's  Daugh- 
ter," which  has  been  translated  into  a  hundred  tongues,  and  done  more 
good  perhaps  than  any  other  book  in  the  English  tongue,  save  the 
English  Bible  and  Bunyan's  "  Pilgrim's  Progress."  And  all  because 
one  simple  man,  years  and  years  ago,  abode  in  Him.  It  will  be  of 
infinite  consequence  to  our  life's  service  if,  seeing  Him  standing  before 
us  to-night,  knocking  once  more  at  the  doors  of  our  lives,  asking  us  to 
let  Him  in  that  He  may  abide  there,  and  inviting  us  in  to  the  full  glory 
of  His  life,  that  we  may  abide  there,  we  say,  "Amen,  even  so.  Lord  Jesus." 
But  I  believe  there  is  a  deeper  word  still  that  Pie  would  speak  to 
every  life  to-night.  "Be  I."  He  did  not  put  it  so,  but  He  meant 
it  so,  and  in  words  that  He  did  speak  it  was  practically  so  put  when 
He  said,  "  Be  I."  Not  alone  "  Follow  me,"  "  Learn  of  me,"  and  not  alone 
"  Abide  in  me,"  "  Be  I."  No  man  has  yet  attained  the  Christian  ser- 
vice in  the  fullest  and  highest  sense  who  is  not  born  into  Christ.  These 
are  His  own  words ;  He  spoke  them  on  that  night  on  the  way  from  the 
little  upper  chamber  down  to  Gethsemane's  gloom  :  "  As  Thou  sent  me 
into  the  world  even  so  have  I  also  sent  them  into  the  world," —  words 
that  He  afterward  repeated  when  He  met  in  the  little  upper  chamber 
Avith  them  after  His  rising  from  the  dead :  "  As  my  Father  has  sent  me 
even  so  send  I  you."  And  it  was  no  unattained  ideal.  I  read  in  the 
first  chapter  of  Philippians  the  judgment  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  that  for 
him  to  die  would  be  gain,  but  that  to  him  to  live  was  Christ.  And  I 
read  in  the  third  chapter  of  Colossians  his  words :  "  When  Christ,  who 
is  our  life,  shall  appear,  then  shall  ye  also  appear  with  Him  in  glory." 
It  is  not  to  follow  Him  externally ;  it  is  not  to  sit  at  His  feet,  holding 
them  close  and  learning  of  Him ;  it  is  not  even  to  abide  in  Him, —  it  is 
to  be  Christ.  "  For  to  me  to  live  is  Christ;  "  and  missionary  after  mis- 
sionary, in  the  great  host  from  the  day  when  Paul  first  learned  that 
secret  down  until  now,  has  sunk  his  life  into  Christ,  Saint  Patrick 
wrote  it  in  his  great  missionary  hymn  : 

"Christ  as  a  light 
Illumine  and  guide  me; 

Christ  as  a  shield  o'ershadow  and  cover  me; 
Christ  be  under  me;  Clirist  be  over  me; 
Christ  be  beside  me, 
On  left  hand  and  right! 

Christ  be  before  me,  behind  me,  about  me, 
Christ  this  day  be  within  and  without  me." 


The  World's  Conquest.  167 

Fellow  students,  are  we  Christ  ?  Ts  Christ  re- incarnated  in  us  ? 
Have  you  been  mistaken  for  Him?  Have  any  of  the  things  that  we 
have  done  been  mistaken  for  His  deeds,  so  that  men  crossing  our  paths 
have  said,  "  We  have  crossed  the  path  of  the  Christ  ?  "  Eighteen  hun- 
dred years  ago  He  went  away,  but  He  is  not  away.  In  thousands  of 
lives  still,  in  the  life  of  every  one  who  has  caught  the  spirit  of  His  life, 
Christ  lives  again.  And  as  we  go,  fellow  students,  let  it  not  be  the 
sense  of  a  large  enthusiasm  begotten  by  these  large  numbers ;  let  it  not 
be  the  strength  of  a  deep  feeling  stirred  by  the  sweeping  of  His  hand 
over  the  heartstrings  of  our  lives  in  the  days  of  this  gathering, —  let  it 
be  the  living,  abiding,  enduring,  undepai-ting  Christ,  re-living  His 
Divine  life  in  our  lives,  that  shall  help  us  to  serve  Him.  And  then 
what  matters  the  end  ?  What  matters  it  if  a  life  shall  be  laid  on  African 
shores  before  the  lips  ever  begin  to  speak  one  of  Africa's  tongues  ? 
What  matter  if  on  every  isle  of  every  sea  some  volunteer  shall  lay  down 
his  life  to  rest  until  the  footsteps  of  our  Lord  gleam  gloriously  at  His 
reappearing  ?     What  matter,  if  we  are  living  Christ  ? 

"Others  shall  sing  the  song, 

Others  shall  right  the  wrong, 
Finish  what  we  begin, 
And  all  we  fail  of,  win. 

What  matter  we  or  they. 

Ours  or  another's  day, 
So  the  right  word  be  said, 

And  life  the  sweeter  made? 

Ring  bells  in  far  off  steeples 

The  joy  of  unborn  peoples; 
Sound,  trumpets  far  off  blown, 

Your  triumph  is  ovir  own," 


PART  II. 


SECTIONAL    CONFERENCES. 


EDUCATIONAL  CONFERENCE. 

Thursday  Afternoox,  March  1,  1894. 
The  Rev.  Judson  Smith,  D.D.,  of  Boston,  Chairman. 

The  Chairman  said  :  — 

When,  a  few  years  since,  our  nation  was  under  the  stern  necessity 
of  re-establishing  its  genuine  unity,  the  undertaking  was  carried  for- 
ward, not  by  a  single  force,'.but,_in^a  sense,  by  all  the  forces  of  the 
nation.  The  army  that  was  summoned  to  the  field  was  not  made  up 
simply  of  infantry,  but  we  had  the  cavalry  force,  we  had  the  artillery 
force,  we  had  our  naval  marine ;  and  the  issue  that  was  finally  reached 
was  attained  by  the  united  effort  of  all  these.  The  result  was  not 
won  by  the  infantry,  the  cavalry,  or  the  artillery  alone  ;  it  was  all  com- 
bined, and  the  force  of  the  nation  working  through  these,  that  brought 
us  to  the  result  reached  at  length.  One  aim  dominated  every  part  of 
that  great  movement.  It  was  the  re-establishment  of  the  nation. 
Every  department  of  the  army  looked  toward  that  end  ;  each  man  had 
it  in  view. 

So  it  is  in  regard  to  our  foreign  missionary  work.  We  have  but 
one  end.  It  is  the  proclamation  of  the  Gospel  and  the  establishment 
of  the  life  and  institutions  of  the  Gospel  in  the  nations  to  which  we 
go.  To  reach  that  end  we  use  many  means.  We  enlist  many  bodies. 
We  try  many  agencies.  They  do  not  work  in  separation  from  each 
othei",  or  out  of  sympathy  with  each  other.  But  they  are  co-operant 
to  a  common  end,  and  all  of  ihem  are  dominated  by  the  one  purpose 
which  sustains  the  movement,  and  through  them  the  Divine  Spirit 
works  to  its  end.  We  have  the  educational  work,  the  evangelistic 
activities,  the  literary  work,  the  medical  arm  ;  but  one  and  all  they  are 
parts  of  a  common  enterprise.  Educational  work  is  not  purely  educa- 
tion, so  that  you  can  cut  it  off  and  separate  it  from  the  evangelistic 
work;  it  is  evangelistic  in  a  high  and  noble  sense.  Every  mission 
school  is  a  centre  of   evangelism,  and  the  pupils  gathered  there  are 


172  TiiK  World's  Conquest. 

under  Christian  instruction,  and  strongly  influenced  to  follow  the  Lord 
Jesus,  and  yield  their  lives  to  Him.  Medical  work  has  its  evangelistic 
quality.  It  has  proved  itself  to  be  an  effective  auxiliary,  and  always 
and  everywhere  it  is  felt  to  be  a  part  of  the  full  proclamation  of  the 
Gospel  of  salvation  in  Jesus  Christ.  The  man  who  devotes  himself  to 
the  translation  of  the  Bible,  or  who  is  concerned  with  other  literary 
work  connected  with  the  mission  in  the  development  of  a  Christian 
literature,  is  not  dissociated  from  the  evangelistic  work ;  he  is  exerting 
a  powerful  influence  that  is  laying  its  potent  touch  upon  the  life  and 
work  of  every  native  preacher.  But  I  need  not  enlarge  upon  this. 
Let  us  fix  it  in  mind,  and  never  allow  anything  to  divest  us  of  the 
idea  that  the  varied  forms  of  missionary  effort  aim  at  one  end,  and 
work  together  in  harmony  with  each  other. 

Object  of  Educational  Work  in  Missions. 

Rev.  Robert  A.  Hume,  of  India,  said  :  — 

I  want  to  speak  in  a  very  plain,  simple  way  with  you  about  this 
thing.  If  I  were  asked  to  say  in  a  word  what  the  object  of  educa- 
tional work  in  missions  is,  I  should  say :  it  is  to  impart  spiritual  life. 
Like  any  other  work,  the  thing  that  men  need  is  the  spiritual  life. 
But  T  think  I  can  put  it  a  little  plainer  if  I  give  it  in  two  words :  it  is 
for  life  and  for  power.  Those  two  words,  I  think,  accurately  and 
adequately  represent  the  two  supreme  objects  which  should  be  had  in 
mind  which  justify  educational  work  in  missions  —  life  and  power. 

As  the  time  is  short,  I  will  put  this  under  four  heads,  that  you  may 
see  it,  perhaps,  a  little  better.  The  first  object  of  educational  work  is 
for  the  missionary  to  get  at  the  young  regularly  and  systematically, 
whom  he  could  not  get  at  in  what  is  denominated  "  evangelistic  "  work 
in  distinction  from  educational.  There  are  a  great  many  j'oung  men 
and  young  women  in  non- Christian  countries  who  will  not  come  to 
church,  who  cannot  be  reached  in  street  preaching,  who  cannot  be 
reached  in  any  other  wa}^ ;  and  if  any  Christian  and  spiritual  influence 
is  to  be  brought  to  bear  upon  them,  you  have  got  to  get  them  together 
in  some  place  where  you  can  often  and  systematically  bring  them  under 
the  influence  of  religious,  Christian  teaching,  and  that  is  by  experience 
known  to  be  the  school.  There  are  hundreds  and  thousands  that  are 
glad  to  come  to  school,  in  order  that  they  may  have  what  is  called 
"secular"  education,  and  they  do  it  when  they  well  know  that  this 
secular  education  is  largely  a  means  for  the  religious  influence  and 
teaching  of  the  school.  And  it  does  afford  a  great  many  splendid 
opportunities ;  and  when  the  man  who  teaches  in  the  school  is  a  spirit- 
ually minded  man,  whose  purpose  in  teaching  is  to  bring  spiritual  life, 


The  World's  Conquest.  173 

this  brings  togethei*  a  large  and  often  fruitful  community  in  which  to 
work. 

There  is  a  second  object  a  little  beyond  this.  There  are  those  who 
regard  a  diseased  and  stunted  mind  as  just  as  much  an  object  of  pity 
and  of  compassion  as  a  diseased  body ;  and  just  as  it  is  the  proj^er 
thing  to  do  something  for  a  poor  wretch  before  you,  even  though  you 
know  that  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  he  will  never  respond  to  your 
spiritual  teaching,  so  it  is  a  legitimate  thing  for  the  Christian  mission- 
ary to  feel  moved  with  compassion  for  a  diseased,  stunted,  and  dwarfed 
mind.  And  they  believe  that  the  Saviour  would  look  with  the  same 
compassion  on  this  branch  of  work  as  on  any  other.  And,  although 
the  doctor  knows,  and  although  the  Lord  knew  that  of  the  ten  lepers 
saved  only  nine  would  return  to  render  thanks,  it  was  out  of  His  com- 
passion for  them  that  He  healed  them,  and  out  of  compassion  for  the 
multitude  that  he  fed  them,  because  it  was  part  of  the  Divine  thought. 
So  there  are  men  who  are  engaged  in  this,  and  who  think  that  it  is  as 
distinctly  evangelistic  work,  as  distinctly  religious  work,  to  try  to  re- 
store and  develop  the  diseased  and  stunted  minds  of  young  men,  as  to 
labor  for  their  diseased  and  stunted  bodies.  It  is  a  legitimate  and 
important  part  of  mission  work. 

The  third  object  is  this :  It  is  not  enough  to  gain  a  spiritual  life ;  it 
is  not  enough  simply  to  plant  the  seed  ;  it  is  not  enough  to  know  that 
the  sapling  has  taken  root,  and  begun  to  grow.  Those  that  are  neg- 
lected die.  And,  therefore,  not  simply  to  make  a  beginning  in  spirit- 
ual life,  but  to  develop  all  spiritual  life,  educational  work  is  an  impor- 
tant part  of  mission ar}^  work.  That  is  the  reason  why  there  are 
thousands  of  Christian  schools  in  a  Christian  country,  because  you 
think  it  is  not  a  jDroper  thing  for  j^our  own  boys  and  girls  here  in 
Christian  America  to  grow  up  in  non-religious  schools.  You  say  it  is 
necessary  to  have  all  these  intiuences  about  them  from  the  kindergarten 
to  the  professional  schools.  The  same  reasons  hold  true  in  non-Chris- 
tian countries. 

And  the  fourth  object  is :  To  develop  power  for  service,  distinctive 
service.  That  is  the  reason  for  maintaining  the  normal  school,  the 
theological  school,  the  nurses'  school ;  for  in  these  institutions  Christians 
are  fitted  for  helping  their  fellowmen.  Those,  as  I  understand  it,  are 
the  foixr  distinct  objects  of  educational  work,  any  one  of  which  would 
legitimately  make  it  an  important  part  of  our  work.  There  are  those 
who  look  upon  the  first  as  the  main  one,  and  they  throw  the  cold 
shoulder  against  the  man  who  has  the  second  object  in  mind.  And 
there  are  those  that  are  satisfied  with  the  first  who  think  that  the  third 
is  not  of  much  account.  There  was  not  a  man  of  the  five  or  six  hun- 
dred persons  assembled  in  Bombay  in  1893  who  did  not  recognize  ed- 
ucation as  a  necessary  and  important  part  of  missionaiy  work.     And  it 


174  The  World's  Conquest. 

will  be  only  those  who  have  not  had  experience  who  will  speak  of  it  as 
secondary.  It  is  not  because  it  is  my  line  that  I  value  it,  but  because, 
after  nineteen  and  a  half  years  of  experience,  I  have  grown  to  appreci- 
ate its  value  moi*e  and  more.  It  is  an  easy  thing  to  count  up  and  say  : 
"  There  are  one  hundred  students.  How  many  of  those  show  evidence  of 
spiritual  life  as  yet?"  You  cannot  count  those  to  whom  you  preached 
last  year.  But  my  impression  is,  that  if  you  could  really  tell  of  the 
one  hundred  thousand  persons  who  hear  preaching  and  the  one  hun- 
dred thousand  who  attend  school,  that  saving  grace  is  given  hy  God 
through  the  instrumentality  of  educational  work  in  as  many  cases  as  it 
is  given  through  preaching. 

S.  H.  Wainwright,  M.  D.,  of  Kobe,  Japan,  said :  — 
Schools  of  Japan. 

Educational  work  is  pursued  very  vigorously  by  the  government,  as 
well  as  by  the  missions,  and  also  by  private  enterprise.  This  is  due 
not  only  to  the  appreciation  of  those  Avho  are  leaders  of  Western  ed- 
ucation, but  also  from  the  universal  demand  for  Western  education 
which  prevails  among  the  people  throughout  Japan.  Mission  schools  are 
necessary,  very  necessary,  because  the  government  schools  are  strictly 
secular,  and  skeptical ;  and  not  only  that,  they  are  openly  hostile  to 
Christianity. 

The  government  consists  of  five  departments  of  educational  work : 
the  kindergarten,  the  elementary  schools,  higher  and  lower,  the  high 
school,  the  middle  school  (which,  with  the  high  school,  consists  of 
higher  and  lower  schools),  the  university,  and  then  special  schools. 
This  system  is  a  combination  of  the  boarding  schools  of  England,  the 
normal  schools  of  France,  the  high  schools  of  America,  and  the  German 
universities.  Now,  we  have  no  such  system  in  our  missionary  educa- 
tional work.  While  we  lack  uniformity  in  Avork,  we  do  not  lack  unity 
of  spirit  and  sympathy  of  aim.  But  it  is  almost  impossible  to  have 
uniformity  where  missionaries  work  under  such  different  circum- 
stances and  come  from  so  many  different  countries.  We  have  mission- 
aries from  England,  Germany,  America,  and  Canada.  And  then  they 
differ  according  to  the  stage  of  missionary  work  engaged  in  by  the 
different  churches.  For  instance,  the  work  of  education  in  our  church 
(Methodist)  is  not  advanced  so  far  as  it  is  in  some  other  churches,  be- 
cause we  have  not  been  in  the  field  so  long.  Nevertheless,  we  should 
have  more  unifoi-mity  in  Japan  than  we  have.  We  could  have 
uniformity  in  text  books ;  we  could  have  a  general  plan,  if  it  were 
agreed  upon  by  all  the  churches,  which  would  make  our  educational 


The  World's  Conquest.  175 

work  more  thorough  and  also  more  powerful  in  the  sight  of  the 
Japanese. 

The  usual  classification  of  educational  work,  in  the  statistics  which 
are  gotten  out  every  year,  is  into  boys'  boarding  schools  (eighteen  of 
these,  with  fifteen  hundred  pupils),  day  schools,  theological  schools, 
girls'  schools,  and  schools  for  the  training  of  Bible  women.  While  we 
have  no  system  as  yet  in  Japan,  still  we  are  doing  nearly  all  the  kinds 
of  work  done  by  the  Japanese  government  schools,  and  more  too.  We 
have  kindergarten,  and  we  have  elementary  schools.  We  have  schools 
which  correspond  to  the  higher  and  lower  middle  schools.  We  have 
no  normal  schools. 

One  of  our  great  needs  in  Japan  is  for  Christian  school  teachers. 
We  have  to  draw  largely  upon  these  men  who  are  educated  in  the 
government  schools,  and  they  are  so  hostile  to  Christianity  that  they  do 
not  suit  our  work  or  our  purpose.  But  no  one  church  that  I  know  of 
has  its  system  complete.  We  have  no  university.  Each  church  aims 
to  have  a  central  institution  with  high  school,  college,  and  theological 
school  combined.  I  have  found  in  my  experience  that  it  is  beneficial 
to  have  this  theological  school  along  by  the  side  of  the  literary  work. 
The  religious  influence  of  the  theological  students  uj^on  the  literary 
students,  and  the  literary  influence  upon  the  theological  students  is  very 
helpful.  In  the  theological  schools  we  teach  in  two  languages,  the 
English  and  the  Japanese.  This  also  results  in  good  to  the  students. 
It  enriches  the  language.  But  my  experience  has  been  that  the  students 
who  study  in  English  advance  faster,  are  more  forceful  men,  when  they 
enter  the  field. 

The  academic  departments  in  these  schools  should  be  thorough. 
We  should  have  our  energies,  our  money,  and  our  men  centered  in 
Japan,  and  have  thorough  institutions  where  we  can  give  higher  educa- 
tion. These  schools  are  gradually  developing.  One  thing  that  we 
lack  is  equipment.  The  government  schools  are  well  equipped.  We 
lack  men  for  teachers  who  are  thoroughly  trained.  We  have  to  send 
them  abroad  in  order  to  secure  Christian  training  for  them. 

Now  then,  besides  these  elementary  schools,  there  are  evangelistic 
training  schools.  Students  come  to  us  without  the  necessary  qualifica- 
tions for  evangelistic  work.  Theological  students  are  given  a  short 
course  in  church  history,  Bible  exegesis,  and  the  fundamental  elements 
of  Christian  theology, —  a  two  years'  course, —  regardless  of  the  literary 
education  that  they  have  had  before  they  come  to  these  schools. 

And  then  we  have  the  Bible  women's  training  schools.  This  is  a 
very  necessary  work.  We  give  them  training  in  the  Japanese  language, 
to  enable  them  to  read  freely  and  to  write,  and  also  training  in  Biblical 
geography  and  in  Bible  history  and  in  the  interpretation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures.    These  Japanese  women  do  a  great  work  in  Japan. 


176  Thk  World's  Conquest. 

Then  we  have  kindergarten  in  our  work,  where  the  children  are 
taught  and  brought  under  religious  influences.  Then  the  nurses'  school 
—  one  at  Kyoto  and  one  at  Tokyo.  There  are  others,  but  I  do  not 
know  them.  The  Japanese  appreciate  this  work,  and  they  raise  no  ob- 
jection to  the  training  of  women  for  this  work.  This  will  be  a  strong 
part  of  Christian  work  in  the  interior,  the  churches  think. 

And  then,  again,  a  great  many  schools  in  Japan  teach  simply  the 
English  language.  Missionaries  can  get  their  passports  so  that  they 
can  reside  in  the  interior  by  teaching  the  English  language.  We  go 
there  and  gather  about  us  the  young  men,  and  teach  them  English 
and  the  Bible.  Some  of  the  best  men  in  the  various  churches  have 
come  out  of  these  night  schools  where  the  English  language  is  taught. 

There  are  various  industrial  schools,  and  schools  which  teach  what 
may  be  in  demand  at  local  places.  In  treaty  ports,  they  want  German 
and  French  and  English  taught  them,  and  they  want  enlargement  on 
various  siibjects,  and  they  go  to  the  missionary  and  he  teaches  them 
along  these  lines. 

The  educational  work  in  Japan  is  suffering  at  this  time  because  of 
the  anti-foreign  spirit.  They  criticise  om*  schools  because  they  are  not 
thorough  enough.  We  should  have  a  strong,  thorough  system  in  Japan, 
so  that  we  can  compete  with  these  government  schools.  The  work,  as 
now  carried  on,  in  spite  of  this  anti-foreign  spirit  against  us,  is  still  suc- 
cessful, I  am  glad  to  say. 

Educational   Work  and   Main  Aims  or  Missionary  Labor. 

Rev.  W.  B.  Boggs,  D.  D.,  of  the  Telugu  Mission,  India,  said :  — 

Let  us  first  inquire  what  are  the  "  main  aims  "  of  missionary  labor? 
It  is  of  Christ :  it  is  not  of  man  ;  it  is  not  of  the  Church  ;  it  is  not  an 
effort  of  human  charity,  or  philanthropy,  or  humanitarianism.  It  was 
originated,  founded,  and  commissioned  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He 
is  the  Head  of  it,  and  the  ever-present  Leader  of  it.  It  is  of  Him,  and 
hy  Him,  and  /or  Him  forever.  Therefore,  we  must  go  to  His  words  to 
ascertain  the  "  main  aims  "  of  it. 

The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  says,  with  exceeding  plainness  and  positive- 
ness  :  "  Preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature ; "  "  Disciple  all  the 
nations,  baptizing  them  *  *  *  and  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things 
whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you."  He  says  again :  "  That  repen- 
tance and  remission  of  sins  should  be  preached  in  His  name  among 
all  nations ; "  and  "  Ye  shall  be  witnesses  unto  me  *  *  *  unto  the 
uttermost  part  of  the  earth  ;  "  and,  "As  my  Father  hath  sent  me  even 
so  send  I  you."  From  these  words,  and  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
and  their   letters  to  the  churches,  we  gather  that  the  main  aims  of 


The  World's  Coxqukst.  177 

missionary  labor  are  the  publishing  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  among  all 
nations,  and  instruction  of  the  disciples  in  all  that  He  commanded. 

This  being  so,  what  is  the  relation  of  mission  schools  to  this  work  ? 
It  is  auxiliary.  Mission  schools  are  justified  only  by  their  being  con- 
ducive to  the  furtherance  of  the  Gospel. 

Therefore,  the  instruction  in  these  schools  should  be  mainly  in  the 
things  of  Christ.  All  truth  may  be  taught,  but  the  central  place  belongs 
of  right  to  the  things  of  Christ.  If  this  be  disregarded,  and  science  and 
philosophy  and  literature  occupy  the  chief  place  and  most  of  the  time, 
Christ  is  robbed,  and  the  main  object  of  the  mission  school  is  defeated. 

The  education  given  in  mission  schools  should  be  a  thoroughly 
Christian  education.  The  studies  should  all  be  Christo-centric.  What- 
ever branch  of  learning  be  taught,  it  should  all  lead  to  Him.  For  exam- 
ple, the  aim  in  teaching  astronomy  should  be  to  show  that  "  the  heavens 
declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament  showeth  His  handiwork." 

The  religious  instruction  in  mission  schools  should  not  be  an  insig- 
nificant supplement,  but  should  hold  the  principal  place.  We  cannot 
expect  the  schools  to  be  greatly  helpful  in  the  furtherance  of  the 
Gospel  if  we  do  not  make  the  Christian  instruction  the  main  object  for 
which  the  school  exists. 

The  principal  work  of  mission  schools  should  be  the  training  of 
mission  agents,  those  who,  as  preachers  or  catechists,  or  teachers,  or 
Bible  women,  will  be  directly  engaged  in  Christian  work.  Thus  the 
schools  would  be  a  great  source  of  strength  to  the  mission.  Besides 
the  training  of  mission  agents,  the  education  of  other  Christians  should 
be  advanced  as  much  as  possible  by  the  mission  schools. 

If  this  be  the  true  relation  of  mission  schools  to  mission  work  in 
general,  then  none  ought  to  be  employed  in  those  schools  as  teachers 
but  Christians,  for  what  concord  hath  Christ  with  Belial.  I  do  not  see 
what  reason  we  have  to  believe  that  the  employment  of  a  Hindu  or  a 
Buddhist  as  a  teacher  in  a  school  of  Christ  is  any  more  acceptable  in 
the  sight  of  God  than  the  employment  of  a  worshipper  of  Baal  or 
Ashtaroth  in  a  "  school  of  the  prophets  "  would  have  been  in  the  time  of 
Elijah,  or  a  worshipper  of  Diana  of  the  Ephesians  in  the  time  of    Paul. 

There  is  need  of  great  care  and  firmness  at  the  present  time  in  order 
to  preserve  the  true  relation  of  mission  schools  to  the  evangelization  of 
the  world,  and  to  save  them  from  the  secularizing  drift  that  is  so 
prevalent. 

Actual  Results  of  Educatiox  in  Missionary  Work. 

The  Rev.  James  S.  Dennis,  D.D.,  said  :  — 

The  mission  school  is  an  attractive  form  of  work.  It  is  economical 
in  that  it  reaches  a  great  many  at  small  expense.     It  ministers  to  young 


178  The  World's  Conquest. 

minds  and  hearts  at  a  receptive  period,  when  they  may  be  easily  and 
permanently  moulded.  It  has  in  it  the  promise  of  a  harvest.  Its  ben- 
efits extend  through  life,  and  the  missionary  himself  has  often  a  life- 
long satisfaction  in  the  visible  fruit  of  his  labors.  It  is  also  a  compre- 
hensive method,  far  more  so  than  is  usually  recognized.  Its  results 
are  varied,  and  its  advantages  many. 

Two  lines  of  results  may  be  noted  :  I.  The  more  indirect  and  gen- 
eral ;  II.  The  more  direct  and  personal. 

I.  Among  the  more  indirect  and  general  results  may  be  men- 
tioned : 

(1)  The  opportunity  which  it  affords  for  an  appeal  to  the  mission- 
ary on  the  part  of  even  a  bigoted  and  inaccessible  community,  A 
village  which  may  not  desire,  or  may  not  dare  to  ask  for,  the  Gospel 
directly,  presents  a  unanimous  petition  for  a  school  for  the  training  of 
its  children.  Bigotrj'  is  silenced,  priestly  opposition  is  defied,  the  plea 
for  the  children  carries  the  day,  and  the  missionary  is  invited  to  enter. 

(2)  It  affords  a  basis  of  occupation.  It  is  a  standing-ground  for 
the  missionary  in  an  environment  where  otherwise  it  would  be  impos- 
sible for  him  to  contend  for  a  hearing  or  withstand  attack.  His  school 
is  his  fortress.  With  this  entering  wedge  he  can  divide  the  commu- 
nity, and  can  secure  himself  a  measure  of  local  countenance  and 
support. 

(3)  It  affords  a  center  for  Christian  teaching,  a  rallying  place  for 
Biblical  instruction  on  the  Sabbath  and  upon  weekday  evenings.  The 
teacher  is  a  personal  power  in  the  village.  He  can  often  gather  upon 
long  winter  evenings  a  friendly  company,  who  will  find  in  him  sources 
of  information  and  a  medium  of  contact  with  the  great  outside  world, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  session  he  reads  the  Bible  and  leads  in  prayer 
in  a  way  which  is  entirely  free  from  the  appearance  of  direct  aggres- 
sive evangelism.  It  is  often  the  case  that  a  school  carries  with  it  as  a 
conceded  point  the  right  of  public  preaching  services  in  the  school- 
room on  the  Sabbath,  attended  as  a  matter  of  course  by  the  children, 
and  open  to  the  parents  and  to  all  who  may  come. 

(4)  It  is  one  of  the  most  efficient  ways  of  awakening  an  interest 
in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  parents  and  adult  friends  of  the  children. 
School  examinations  give  an  opportunity  for  the  children  to  surprise 
and  delight  older  friends  by  their  exhibition  of  knowledge  which  is  far 
beyond  what  the  venerable  and  dignified  chief  men  of  the  village  can 
claim  for  themselves.  Parental  interest  and  pride  are  quickened,  hopes 
are  kindled,  and  prejudices  allayed. 

(5)  It  is  a  stimulus  to  aspiration,  and  quickens  the  desire  for  bet- 
ter things  in  communities  which  would  be  otherwise  utterly  stagnant 
and  barren.  A  village  school  has  often  been  the  beginning  of  brighter 
things  in  the  life  of  a  whole  community.     The  stolid  inertia  and  the 


The  World's  Coxquest.  179 

monotonous  routine  of  an  utterly  ignorant  comraunity  has  been  slowly 
changed  into  a  quickened  desire  for  progress  and  a  stimulating  discon- 
tent with  things  as  they  were.  The  above  hints  may  serve  to  illustrate 
the  far  reaching  influence  of  mission  schools  and  the  indirect  advan- 
tages which  attend  them. 

II.     Among  the  more  direct  and  personal  results,  we  would  indicate  : 

(1)  It  is  a  method  of  rescue  work.  It  gathers  young  children  out 
of  evil  associations,  takes  them  from  a  school  of  contaminated  morals 
and  depraved  example,  and  brings  them  into  contact  with  discipline, 
restraint,  intellectual  training,  and  moral  guidance.  No  street  Arab, 
taken  from  the  slums  of  our  great  cities  and  placed  in  some  Christian 
institution,  is  more  clearly  a  case  of  rescue  than  are  these  children  who 
are  put  to  school  in  Asiatic  or  African  villages.  This  is  especially 
true  where  industrial  training  is  added  to  intellectual  and  rehgious 
instruction. 

(2)  It  is  a  most  effective  method  of  personal  training,  both  intel- 
lectually and  religiously.  I  cannot  illustrate  what  I  mean  here  more 
forcibly  than  by  telling  you  what  I  have  seen  myself  in  my  visits  to 
mission  schools  in  Syria.  It  goes  without  saying  that  reading,  writing, 
arithmetic,  geography,  and  even  some  higher  branches  of  secular  edu- 
cation are  all  in  the  curriculum.  What  I  wish  to  illustrate  especially  is  the 
thoroughness  of  the  religious  training  which  is  given.  I  have  examined 
classes  in  the  Bible,  where  books  of  the  New  Testament  had  been  com- 
mitted to  memory  with  the  most  faultless  and  astonishing  exactness. 
I  examined  a  class  of  Syrian  boys  at  one  time  in  the  Gospel  of  Matthew 
until  I  was  satisfied  that  it  had  been  memorized  by  each  one.  I  heard 
an  examination  in  one  of  our  Syrian  high  schools  upon  the  life  of  St. 
Paul,  and  apparently  there  was  nothing  historical  in  the  Bible  about 
the  Apostle  which  was  not  known  by  every  pupil.  A  class  of  girls  in 
the  Sidon  School  recited  the  119th  Psalm  without  a  mistake.  I 
have  examined  classes  in  the  same  school  which  were  not  only  familiar 
with  the  answers  of  the  catechism,  but  could  name  and  repeat  from 
memory  the  proof  texts  Avhenever  asked  for.  There  are  many  beauti- 
ful hymns  in  our  Arabic  hymn  book,  and  it  is  the  custom  to  learn  these 
in  our  schools.  I  have  known  pupils  who  knew  as  many  as  forty  by 
heart.  Then  there  are  Scripture  question  books  and  catechisms,  going 
over  in  a  cursory  way  all  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  These  are 
regularly  studied  by  committing  them  to  memory.  I  once  examined  a 
class  in  the  Westminster  Assembly's  Catechism.  The  examination 
seemed  to  me  a  unique  one.  I  had  never  seen  anything  just  like  it  be- 
fore. The  class  arranged  itself  in  a  semi-circle,  and  one  of  the  boys 
asked  the  first  question,  the  answer  of  which  was  given  by  his  neigh- 
bor, who  in  his  turn  asked  the  second  question  to  his  neighbor  beyond. 
It  was  answered,  and  then  he  propounded  the  third  question  to  his 


180  The  World's  Conquest. 

next  schoolmate.  And  so  the  examination  proceeded,  while  we  sat  in 
silent  expectation  that  the  end  would  soon  come,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
the  questions  were  promptly  asked  and  as  promptly  answered,  and 
the  examination  proceeded  until  time  compelled  us  to  call  a  halt.  A 
very  popular  method  of  teaching  the  relation  between  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  in  these  schools  is  to  have  one  set  of  children  commit  to 
memory  the  prophecies  concerning  Christ  in  the  Old  Testament,  and 
another  group  memorize  those  passages  in  the  New  Testament  which 
indicate  the  fulfillment  of  the  prophecies,  and  the  children  recite  alter- 
nately the  prophecy  and  its  corresponding  fulfillment.  Still  another 
interesting  religious  exercise  is  arranged  by  means  of  a  little  book  which 
contains  entirely  in  the  words  of  Scripture  a  prayer  and  a  promise 
answering  that  prayer  for  each  day  of  the  month  throughout  the  year. 
The  children  will  commit  months  of  these  prayers  and  promises  to 
memory,  so  that  they  can  be  asked  to  give,  for  example,  the  prayers 
and  promises  of  any  month  of  the  year,  and  will  be  able  to  do  so 
readily,  one  child  repeating  the  prayer,  and  another  following  with  the 
promise.  You  will  notice  that  these  illustrations  have  had  to  do  almost 
entu-ely  with  the  memory.  There  are  other  and  higher  exercises  which 
involve  the  study  of  Scripture  and  its  exposition  day  by  day.  Our 
village  schools  in  Syria,  and  also  our  higher  schools  and  institutions,  are 
places  where  a  religious  training  is  at  the  front.  The  result  is  that  this 
religious  instruction  prepares  the  mind  for  the  acceptance  of  the  Gospel 
later  on ;  and  there  are  no  more  intelligent  hearers  of  the  Truth  in  our 
congregations  than  those  who  have  had  the  advantages  of  mission 
schools. 

(3)  These  village  schools  serve  a  further  purpose  in  revealing  the 
capacity  of  pupils  and  the  promise  that  there  is  in  them.  They  there- 
fore become  the  feeders  for  our  higher  and  normal  and  collegiate  insti- 
tutions. Our  teachers  and  preachers  usually  receive  their  first  lessons 
from  the  village  schoolmaster.  Without  these  preliminary  advantages 
we  should  have  but  poor  material  for  higher  education,  and  eventually 
for  mission  evangelism. 

(4)  A  mission  school  never  loses  its  grip  upon  a  child  who  has 
enjoyed  its  opportunities.  In  after  years,  when  school  pupils  become 
parents,  their  ambition  and  desire  for  their  own  children  are  that  they 
should  be  educated.  The  craving  for  the  privileges  of  knowledge  once 
stimulated  develops  from  generation  to  generation.  The  reports  from 
our  mission  fields,  especially  those  in  the  Turkish  Empire,  indicate  that 
the  appreciation  of  education  grows  perceptibly  from  year  to  year,  and 
each  annual  opening  of  our  educational  institutions  witnesses  increasing 
urgency  on  the  part  of  the  parents  and  the  young  people  themselves  to 
secure  the  advantages  which  they  afford.  Christian  missions  may  be 
said  to  be  putting  nations  to  school ;  and  while  there  may  be  some 


The  World's  Conquest.  181 

results  whicli  are  disappointing  and  even  distressing,  yet  there  can  be 
but  one  verdict  as  to  the  inestimable  advantages  of  both  lower  and 
higher  education,  with  a  thoroughly  religious  tone  and  a  missionary 
aim,  in  all  our  mission  fields. 

General  Discussion. 

Rev.  Dr.  Geo.  W.  Knox  said :  — 

To  an  immense  extent,  the  evangelistic  Avork  carried  on  is  the 
direct  result  of  work  with  students,  the  direct  result  of  gathering  non- 
Christian  Japanese  into  schools.  One  instance :  A  number  of  young 
men  were  taught  in  a  non-Christian  school  by  a  Christian  man  who 
was  not  able  to  bring  Christianity  to  the  front,  but  who  himself  did  so 
impress  the  students  under  him  that  he  led  them  to  Christ ;  and  they 
have  led  thousands  of  their  countrymen  to  Christ.  If  there  is  any 
young  man  in  the  United  States  who  can  find  a  nobler  work  to  do  than 
the  work  that  was  done  in  Kumamoto  or  in  Yokohama,  he  will  have  to 
go  bej^ond  the  bounds  of  this  world. 

It  doesn't  make  a  bit  of  difference  if  we  are  spending  much  time 
with  geometry  and  literature.  If  students  come  in  contact  with  the 
life  of  a  righteous  man  whose  whole  heart  is  given  to  leading  them  to 
Jesus  Christ,  he  will  surely  see  the  fruit.  It  matters  not  whether  the 
curriculum  requires  this  or  that,  it  is  the  living  influence  of  the  teacher 
brought  constantly  in  contact  with  the  student  that  leads  him  to  Christ. 

I  think  it  is  the  greatest  mistake  for  a  man  who  is  going  to  give 
his  life  to  educational  work  in  a  foreign  land  to  fail  to  learn  the  lan- 
guage of  that  land.  There  are  a  great  many  men  who  suppose  that 
they  can  go  out  to  Japan  as  teachers  and  do  the  best  work  without 
knowing  the  Japanese  language.  There  have  been  men  who  could 
not  learn  the  language  who  have  done  good  work,  but  apart  from  such 
exceptional  cases  it  is  beyond  all  measure  absurd  for  a  man  to  go  to 
one  of  those  lands  and  not  know  the  language  of  the  people,  exen  if 
he  is  to  teach  English.  There  is  no  short  cut  for  the  educational  mis- 
sionary. Do  not  go  into  a  foreign  land  and  shut  yourself  into  a  little 
narrow  circle  of  men  who  know  English.  Go  there  and  give  as  much 
time  and  energy  as  does  the  evangelistic  missionary  to  the  learning  of 
the  language,  understanding  the  people  and  putting  yourself  into  sjon- 
pathy  with  them. 

Rev.  J.  Taylor  Hamilton,  Secretary  of  the  Moravian  Mission 
Society,  said :  — 

I  represent  a  society  long  in  missionary  work.  Our  experience  has 
taught  us  that,  even  if  through  our  schools  we  do  not  get  our  scholars 


182  The  World's  Conquest. 

thoroughly  in  that  generation,  their  sons  or  daughters,  or  grandsons  or 
granddaughters,  may  be  the  more  thoroughly  won.  I  do  not  think  I 
need  to  put  it  into  many  words.  There  may  have  been  cases  when  the 
school  work  from  a  Christian  standpoint  may  have  seemed  vain, 
nevertheless  the  apostate  afterward  has  desired  Christian  education  for 
his  children,  and  it  may  be  that  one  of  those  children  has  become  a 
native  evangelist,  gifted  with  power  from  on  high. 

Rev.  R.  T.  Bryan,  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Mission,  Shanghai, 
China,  said  :  — 

I  believe  the  purpose  of  the  Christian  mission  school  should  be,  and 
generally  is,  the  fulfillment  of  the  commission,  "  Go  teach  all  nations, 
teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you." 
And  now,  several  reasons  why  we  should  have  these  mission  schools, 
which  have  not  yet  been  given.  First,  the  improvement  of  the  heathen 
languages,  I  know  this  is  true  in  China,  and  I  suppose  it  is  true  in 
every  heathen  country.  When  the  missionary  learns  these  heathen 
languages,  he  finds  that  they  are  not  able  to  express  the  deep  thoughts 
of  Almighty  God.  And  you  can  see  the  thought  at  once.  Language 
can  only  express  what  it  has  been  called  upon  to  express.  For  three 
thousand  years  the  Chinese  language  has  been  called  upon  to  express 
heathen  thought.  I  think  the  school  is  the  best  of  all  places  for  im- 
proving the  language.  Suppose  I  should  say  to  you  all  "  heaven." 
You  would  not  get  my  idea  of  heaven  unless  my  own  was  the  same  as 
yours.  You  would  get  simply  your  idea.  Well,  when  I  stand  up 
before  a  Chinese  audience  and  say  the  word  for  heaven,  what  do  they 
understand  before  they  have  heard  it  explained  ?  They  simply  get  their 
own  heathen  idea  of  heaven.  And  so  it  is  with  nearly  all  things  that 
we  try  to  teach  them. 

The  Chinese  have  great  big  memories,  but  no  thinking  power.  Any- 
thing that  their  ancestors  did  is  right,  and  the  methods  of  then*  ances- 
tors are  necessarily  their  methods.  We  need  a  better  education  to 
develop  the  thinking  power  as  well  as  the  memory.  The  heathen  sys- 
tem of  education  is  the  greatest  bulwark  of  heathenism.  It  simply 
develops  memory  and  it  does  not  develojj  the  thinking  power.  I  believe 
we  should  wrench  this  power  from  the  heathen,  and  make  it  a  great 
power  of  giving  the  Gospel. 

The  Christian  school  makes  infidels.  I  do  not  mean  infidels  in  not 
believing  in  God  and  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ:  it  makes  them  infidels 
so  far  as  idolatry  is  concerned.  When  you  get  them  to  stop  worship- 
ping the  idols,  you  have  brought  them  a  part  of  the  way  at  least.  I 
believe  that  the  mission  schools  in  all  of  these  countries  are  doing  that. 

About  the  expense.     I  find  that  I  can  run  a  boys'  school  or  a  girls' 


The  World's  Conquest.  183 

school  —  a  day  school  —  from  $4  to  l>6   a  month,  and  the  boarding 
schools  proportionately  cheap. 

The  Rev.  H.  P.  Beach  said  :  — 

In  North  China  there  are  only  three  Christian  colleges.  We  had 
in  om*  institution  a  man  who  could  repeat  the  whole  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment from  memor}'  from  beginning  to  end.  If  you  will  go  to  our  own 
institution  (the  Congregational),  you  will  find  not  a  man  there  who 
doesn't  know  infinitely  more  about  the  Bible  than  your  theological 
students.  They  study  the  Word  of  God  in  those  schools,  but  it  is  not 
quite  as  essential.  The  foundation  of  all  the  North  China  College  work 
is  the  Bible. 

In  heathen  schools  you  take  absolutely  nothing  and  make  something 
out  of  it.  It  does  make  a  man  feel  just  about  as  happy  as  anything 
you  can  do,  to  see  the  development  of  these  men  in  heathenism  up  to  a 
higher  place  and  to  a  place  of  thorough  devotion  to  Jesus  Christ, 
is  a  multiplicative  work.  A  man  does  not  wish  to  die  in  seven  years. 
He  wants  to  set  something  in  motion.  And  he  wants  to  start  things. 
You  do  start  it  when  you  get  hold  of  these  men.  You  give  them 
educational  principles  and  ideas  which  were  not  theirs  before.  You 
die,  but  your  work  does  not  die.  There  are  five  hundred  men  who 
have  been  influenced  by  you  who  are  carrying  on  your  work.  A  man 
is  immortal  in  the  mission  field  as  he  is  not  here.  No  man  is  so  im- 
mortal as  the  Christian  mission  educator.  If  you  want  to  have  a  work 
that  is  satisfying,  just  try  the  work  of  Christian  education.  It  is  a  de- 
lightful one,  I  can  assure  you  from  years  of  experience. 

The  Rev.  Alex.  Sutherland,  D.  D.,  of  Toronto,  said  :  — 

Christianity  means  salvation  for  men  in  every  direction  in  which 
they  need  salvation.  Salvation  for  suffering  mind,  for  the  sorrowing 
mind,  and  the  sinful  heart.  I  suppose  it  is  in  missionary  methods  as  it 
is  in  human  governments,  system  will  work  if  you  have  the  right  kind 
of  men  to  work  it.  In  regard  to  education  in  mission  schools  :  men 
who  put  the  secular  element  first  are  the  wrong  kind  of  men  ;  men  that 
put  Christ  first  and  His  salvation,  and  use  the  secular  element  as  a 
handmaid  to  the  main  idea,  these  are  the  men  that  make  these  schools 
a  great  success.  Now,  some  mission  schools  are  worse  than  nothing,  I 
believe.  And  some  mission  schools  are  of  inestimable  value  in  the 
great  evangelistic  work.  We  need  not  go  farther  away  than  to  the 
New  Testament  teaching  to  get  the  idea.  Jesus  Christ  preaching  and 
teaching  illustrates  one  phase.  Jesus  Christ  feeding  the  hmigry  illus- 
trates another  phase.  And  Jesus  Christ  healing  the  sick  illustrates 
another  phase.  I  believe  that  all  these  phases  can  be  idealized  in  con- 
nection with  our  missions  in  distant  lands. 


184  The  World's  Conquest, 

Miss  Evans  said  :  — 

Does  education  in  the  mission  schools  necessarily  draw  young  men 
away  from  the  ministry  ?  No,  certainly  not.  In  the  North  China 
College  every  young  man  who  has  graduated  so  far  has  chosen  the 
ministry,  with  one  exception.  He  chose  to  study  medicine.  The  young 
men  have  chosen  the  ministry  for  their  life  work,  not  through  compul- 
sion. Pei'haps  you  think  we  should  have  a  large  native  ministry.  We 
have  not,  as  yet.  Why  ?  Because  the  Christian  sentiment  is  so  strong 
in  the  North  China  College  that  if  a  young  man  cannot  resist  going 
into  the  ministry  he  will  not  finish  his  course.  So  I  think  I  am  safe  in 
saying  that  every  one  who  has  finished  his  course  has  chosen  the  min- 
istry.    Most  of  them  were  converted  in  college. 

Dr.  Chester,  of  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Board,  said :  — 

With  reference  to  educational  work,  we  have  no  policy  that  has 
been  entirely  established  and  formulated  and  settled  down  upon  as  a 
permanent  thing,  in  our  church.  My  predecessor.  Dr.  Heuston,  a  man 
of  great  ability  and  of  noble  character  and  of  missionary  experience, 
was  opposed  to  the  idea  of  education  in  mission  work  beyond  the 
almost  primary  kind  of  education.  Of  course  he  had  a  very  great 
influence  in  shaping  the  policy  of  the  church.  And  yet  we  have,  in 
spite  of  that,  done  a  great  deal  of  educational  work  connected  with 
our  missions.  I  suppose  that  one-half  of  the  Avorkers  that  we  have  in 
the  field  to-day — perhaps  more  than  one-half  —  are  cultivated  Chris- 
tian women,  whom  we  have  sent  distinctly  with  this  purpose,  that  they 
should  teach  the  heathen  children  ;  and  the  results  that  they  report  to 
us  are  very  encouraging.  So  far  as  we  have  a  policy,  I  may  say,  in 
one  word,  it  is  this :  that  we  should  have  Christian  education  for  Chris- 
tian children.  We  regard  that  as  a  matter  of  necessity.  And,  sec- 
ondly, that  we  should  have  sufiicient  educational  facilities  for  the  train- 
ing of  native  preachers  who  everywhere,  as  we  think,  are  the  ones  to 
do  the  real  work  of  evangelizing  those  countries.  Beyond  that,  our 
policy  remains  yet  to  be  developed.  We  have  had  one  enterprise  onl}- 
in  the  way  of  higher  education,  and  that  was  in  Brazil,  at  Campanus, 
and,  unfortunately,  the  climate  has  proved  fatal  to  all  the  men  we  have 
sent.  That  school  has  been  closed  for  the  want  of  somebody  to  teach 
in  it. 

Dr.  Knox  said  :  — 

Concerning  the  education  of  girls  in  Japan,  to  begin  with,  it  is  a 
very  extensive  work.     Almost  all  of  the  larger  denominations  in  Japan 


The  World's  Conquest.  185 

have  their  schools.  Some  of  them  have  four  or  five.  These  schools 
have  been  extremely  successful  in  three  respects.  In  the  first  jilace, 
extremely  successful  in  gathering  together  large  numbers  of  guis,  and 
most  of  them  not  Christians  when  they  entered  the  school.  They 
have  been  exceedingly  successful,  in  the  second  place,  on  the  whole, 
in  the  education  which  they  have  imjjarted.  Our  ladies  have  set  out 
to  make  their  schools  as  thorough  as  it  was  possible  to  make  them,  and 
some  of  the  schools  I  know  are  extremely  good  institutions.  In  the 
third  place,  all  the  schools  which  I  happen  to  know  have  been  highly 
successful  in  leading  the  girls  to  an  experimental  knowledge  of  Jesus 
Christ.  All  the  girls  do  not  profess  His  name  in  the  schools.  Many 
of  them  continue  to  lead  noble  Christian  lives  even  when  they  have 
not  been  baptized  into  the  name  of  Jesus.  From  our  schools  in  Japan 
there  come  constantly  an  increasing  number  of  workers.  Many  of 
the  girls  have  devoted  themselves  to  Christian  education,  and  given 
themselves  heart  and  soul  to  the  service  of  Christ.  Our  ministers  and 
evangelists  almost  altogether  get  their  wives  from  these  institutions, 
and  the  women  from  those  schools  are  establishing  Christian  homes  in 
almost  every  part  of  the  empire. 

Questions. 

Question.  Is  it  possible  to  gain  any  knowledge  of  the  language 
before  going  ? 

Ansioer.  There  are  several  books,  Japanese-English  Etymology, 
and  a  hand-book  of  Japanese  colloquial.  A  leai-ner  ought  to  have  the 
opportunity  to  get  the  pronunciation  from  some  Japanese  friend. 
There  is  very  little  use  in  studying  the  language  without  some  one  to 
refer  to  in  that  respect. 

Question.  Would  you  advise  a  young  man  in  college  to  endeavor 
to  get  the  fundamental  principles  of  a  language  before  he  goes  ? 

Answer.     I  think  it  is  hardly  worth  whUe. 

Question.  If  Japan  is  establishing  a  j^ublic  school  system,  would 
it  be  possible  for  men  to  get  into  then-  schools  as  teachers  ? 

Answer.  It  has  been  possible  in  the  past.  It  is  less  possible  now, 
because  the  Japanese  are  getting  such  a  large  number  of  competent 
teachers  of  their  own. 

The  Chairman  :  — 

The  one  point  which  I  would  emphasize,  as  we  close  this  discussion, 
is  the  relation  of  Christian  education  to  the  deeper  and  more  perma- 
nent results  of  our  work.  We  must  train  men  who  will  carry  on  the 
work  which  we  inaugm-ate,  and  direct  it  when  our  hand  is  withdrawn ; 


186  The  World's  Conquest. 

and,  in  order  to  do  this  effectually,  mission  schools  must  be  established, 
and  a  carefully  developed  system  of  Christian  education  must  be  vig- 
orously maintained.  The  necessity  of  educational  work  in  our  mis- 
sions is  intimately  connected  with  that  conception  of  missionary  work 
which  holds  that  we  visit  heathen  lands,  both  to  illuminate  them  with 
the  Gospel  and  to  plant  Christian  institutions  for  then-  perpetual 
blessing. 


CONFERENCE  ON  EVANGELISTIC  WORK. 

Thursday,  March  1,  1894. 

Mr.  Robert  E,  Speer,  Chairman. 

After  reading  selections  from  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  chapters 
of  the  Book  of  Acts,  Mr.  Speer  said :  — 

This  is  the  Evangelistic  Conference.  I  presume  it  is  the  subject,  of 
all  those  which  have  been  chosen  for  the  confei'ences  this  afternoon, 
that  appeals  most  to  those  of  us  who  have  gathered  here,  and  to  those 
as  well  who  have  gone  into  the  other  conferences.  Those  who  desire 
to  go  into  the  foreign  field  to  engage  in  some  form  of  lay  effort,  so 
desu-e  because  it  is  then*  purpose  to  forward  the  evangelistic  work. 
Whatever  line  of  work  a  man  does,  if  he  is  a  true  missionary,  he  does 
because  he  believes  that  by  doing  that  work  he  can  best  hasten  the 
evangelization  of  the  world.  Many  can  accomplish  more  in  the  line 
of  evangelistic  work  by  so-called  indirect  effort  than  hj  dii'ect  oral 
preaching.  I  presume  men  here  from  the  foreign  field  to-day  can  tell 
you  of  wide  evangelism  which  has  been  accomplished  by  some  who 
perhaps  have  had  other  duties  as  their  immediate  responsibility. 

We  who  believe  in  the  evangelization  of  the  world  as  a  possibility 
soon,  and  who  long  for  its  coming,  will  be  glad  to  listen  to  the  experi- 
ence of  those  who  will  speak  to  us  this  afternoon.  I  i-ead  the  selections 
from  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  chajDters  of  Acts,  because  they  bear 
upon  the  methods  of  evangelistic  work  in  the  early  Church.  All  of  us 
who  have  studied  the  Book  of  Acts  have  been  struck  by  the  way  it 
answers  questions  about  the  methods  of  missionary  work  to-day.  I 
don't  think  the  methods  of  the  early  Church  Avere  given  to  us  to  be 
followed  on  all-fours.  If  the  Apostle  Paul  were  living  to-day,  his 
principles  of  work  would  probably  find  expression  in  different  methods 
from  those  he  used  in  his  own  day.  The  great  thing  is  to  find  out  not 
methods,  but  principles.     A  method  is  a  temporary  manifestation  of 


188  The  World's  Conquest. 

a  principle ;  and  it  is  more  important  that  we  should  get  hold  of  the 
enduring  principles  of  evangelistic  and  missionary  service. 

The  work  of  the  early  Evangelists  was  marked  by  three  things : 
Fu-st,  large  expectancy.  They  counted  on  finding  others  ready  for  the 
Lord's  call  when  it  was  properly  presented.  They  gathered  a  little 
nucleus  of  believers  wherever  they  went,  made  up  as  largely-  of  Gen- 
tiles as  of  Jews.  They  reached  the  heathen  by  the  immediate  preaching 
of  the  Gospel ;  and  it  called  forth  an  immediate  response  in  the  hearts 
to  whom  it  was  brought.  It  was  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Nevius,  in  the 
passage  I  read  from  his  book  last  night,  and  it  would  be  the  testimony 
of  all  the  most  successful  missionaries  here,  that  they  have  found  that 
God  has  gone  before  them  and  made  ready  those  who  were  to  respond 
to  His  Word.  Its  second  feature  was  mobility.  They  were  never  an- 
chored ;  they  never  settled  down  to  sedentary  life.  And,  when  they 
are  not  called  to  any  special  local  work,  the  best  missionaries  to-day 
are  the  men  of  the  largest  mobility  of  operation  and  of  adaptation. 
The  third  feature  of  the  work  of  those  early  missionaries  was  care- 
lessness. They  were  not  laden  with  any  heavy,  overburdening 
sense  that  the  universal  propagation  of  the  Gospel  rested  on  their 
shoulders  alone.  They  laid  it  off  upon  the  shoulders  of  those  whom 
they  gathered.  They  counted  on  finding  enough  spontaneous  Chris- 
tian spirit  in  the  life  of  any  man  truly  converted  to  make  him  truly  a 
worker  for  Christ.  They  were  not  so  foolish  as  to  train  their  churches 
into  the  conception  that  in  each  church  one  man  is  set  apart  to  do  the 
Christian  work  of  all.  They  taught,  as  their  Master  had  taught,  that 
every  one  who  received  the  word  of  the  Master,  miist  in  his  turn 
become  a  preacher  to  others.  And  so,  when  they  had  once  preached 
the  Gospel  to  a  town  and  gathered  in  a  little  company  of  disciples  in 
that  town,  they  said :  "  The  M^ork  is  yours  now.  The  same  power 
that  was  given  to  us  on  Pentecost  is  at  your  disposal.  If  you  haven't 
got  it,  get  it.  And  then  the  responsibility  for  propagating  the  Gospel 
in  this  region  rests  on  you."  These  three  things,  expectancy,  mobility, 
and  carelessness,  mark  pre-eminently  the  missionary  work  of  the  Apos- 
tolic Church :  they  will  mark  any  successful  evangelistic  work  to-day. 

Christ  as  the  Best  Christian  Missionary. 

Mr.  Frost  said  :  — 

May  we  not  lift  up  our  hearts  in  silent  prayer  continually  while  we 
are  together,  that  the  Lord  may  do  all  the  speaking,  and  that  the  Lord's 
children  may  be  prepared  for  the  hearing  ?  I  am  quite  sure  that  the 
Lord  has  already  spoken  to  us ;  He  has  to  me  personally  since  I  came 
into  this  room.     Let  us  continue  to  look  to  Him  that  His  voice  and  His 


The  Wokld's  Conquest.  189 

alone  may  be  heard.  Tlie  life  of  Christ  in  the  very  fullest  measui'e  ex- 
emplified the  three  different  offices  that  every  missionary  life  should 
embrace :  first  of  all,  a  light-bearer ;  secondly,  a  life-giver ;  and  thirdly, 
a  love-giver. 

First  of  all,  a  light-bearer.  Did  jou  ever  take  up  the  life  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  study  it  in  detail,  and  notice  how  He  carried  on 
His  missionary  work  within  the  limited  sphere  He  put  before  Himself 
on  earth  ?  Did  you  ever  Jiotice  that  He  kept  making  His  life  to  cu-cle 
round  and  round  about  that  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  that,  taking  that  city 
more  or  less  as  a  center,  He  would  throw  out  a  loop  in  this  direction, 
and  come  back,  and  then  throw  another  loop  off  into  another  direction  ? 
First  of  all.  He  went  out  into  what  we  might  call  an  unevangelized 
portion,  and  came  back  as  it  were  upon  the  track  of  an  unevangelized 
portion,  His  second  loojj  touching  the  old  parts  once  more,  that  the 
work  might  be  renewed  and  fostered  and  built  up.  It  is  a  wonderful 
studj'  to  follow  these  loops.  But  what  was  His  object  ?  Oh,  dear 
friends,  He  wanted  to  diffuse  the  light ;  and  the  principle  of  His  life,  it 
seems  to  me,  was  that  of  diffusion  and  not  of  concentration.  He  wanted 
that  light  to  go  out ;  He  wanted  it  to  reach  every  single  life  that  it 
could  reach,  and  touch  every  darkened  soul  that  it  could  touch  withui 
the  limited  service  that  was  put  before  Him  as  one  sent  to  the  lost  sheep 
of  the  house  of  Israel. 

And  now,  dear  friends,  to  apply  it  to  our  own  lives,  isn't  it  just  what 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  asked  of  us  ?  He  wants  that  light  to  illumine 
ever}'  man's  life.  He  is  the  Light  of  the  world ;  and  in  His  command- 
ments nothing  is  more  prominent  than  this,  that  He  longed  to  make 
every  one  of  His  disciples  a  close  imitator  of  Himself  in  this  respect. 

There  are  four  great  commandments.  We  might  speak  of  them 
just  for  a  moment,  and  see  just  how  the  mind  of  God  is  revealed  in 
His  commandments.  We  will  not  use  the  historical  order,  but  the  order 
of  importance.  Take  first  the  expressed  will  of  Jesus  Christ  in  His 
prayer  in  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  John :  "  As  Thou  hast  sent  me 
into  the  world,  even  so  have  I  also  sent  them  into  the  world."  Well, 
that  is  a  very  indefinite  thing,  simply  to  go  out  into  the  world.  It  does 
not  tell  us  where.  But  take  the  closing  verses  of  the  closing  chapter 
of  Luke :  we  have  it  that  we  are  to  be  witnesses  as  we  go  into  the 
world.  That  is  still  very  general.  But  in  Matthew  we  have  it  that  we 
are  to  go  until  we  touch  all  the  nations.  But  still  we  are  dealing  with 
generalities  ;  for  we  might  say  we  might  go  to  the  borders  of  India 
and  Japan  and  China  and  no  fmther.  But,  oh  His  heart  comes  out  in 
Mark's  Gospel !  On,  on,  on,  he  says,  imtil  every  creatm-e  shall  be 
reached,  and  so  on  to  the  "  uttermost  part  of  the  earth,"  until  the  last 
darkened  soul  in  this  darkened  world  has  felt  the  rays  of  that  light  that 
Cometh  from  above. 


190  The  World's  Conquest. 

We  are  not  only  to  be  light-bearers  to  every  creature,  which  takes 
in  the  immediate  evangelization  of  the  world  in  this  present  generation  ; 
but  we  are  to  be  life-givers :  we  are  to  be  the  channels  through  which 
that  Life  may  flow.  And  we  are  to  carry  life  so  fully  as  to  give  to 
those  who  have  it  not,  not  simply  life,  but  life  abundant.  Did  you  ever 
notice  that  verse :  "  I  am  come  that  they  might  have  life,  and  that  they 
mio-ht  have  it  more  abundantly."  He  is  wanting  to  make  us  such 
channels  of  life-giving  power  that  we  shall  be  lifted  up  above  the  com- 
mon. He  wants  us  to  lift  those  low  lives  as  high  as  the  heavenly 
places  themselves.     And  so  we  are  to  be  life-givers. 

Then,  perhaps,  last  of  all,  and  most  imj^ortant  of  all,  we  are  to  be 
love-givers.  Oh,  dear  friends,  it  seems  to  me  that  if  there  is  one  single 
thing  that  this  world  at  large  is  waiting  for,  it  is  love.  It  is  not  natural 
love  either :  it  is  Divine  love ;  it  is  the  love  that  was  in  that  heart  that 
led  that  One  to  come  from  that  great  glory  and  never  finish  its  ministry 
so  far  as  earth  was  concerned  until  that  heart  broke  upon  Calvary. 
And  if  that  heart  shall  throb  in  you  and  me,  I  am  sure  we  shall  have 
that  love  flowing  out  and  the  feet  following  after,  until  those  heathens 
shall  be  reached  and  touched  and  the  loveless  ones  will  be  loved  into 
loveliness.  Oh,  for  that  Divine  compassion  that  was  in  the  heart  of 
God,  that  shall  go  forth  and  touch  these  ones  with  the  hand  of  God 
Himself,  and  raise  them  into  the  light  that  they  may  have  the  light  and 
be  the  channels  of  God !  Mr.  Taylor  was  telling  us  one  day  that  he 
was  in  the  interior  of  China  and  talking  with  his  daughter  about  trans- 
ferring her  to  another  station.  As  he  was  speaking  to  his  daughter  in 
Chinese,  there  was  suddenly  a  heavy  fall,  and  they  turned  and  saw  that 
the  native  servant  girl  who  had  been  waiting  on  them  at  table  had 
fallen  in  a  faint.  It  took  them  a  long  time  to  restore  her  to  con- 
sciousness. But  at  last  she  broke  out  with  a  bitter  wail,  "  Oh,  you  are 
going  to  take  from  me  the  only  one  that  ever  loved  me ! "  Those 
heathen  know  love  when  they  see  it.  But  they  will  never  feel  the  true 
love  of  Christ  until  someone  goes  to  teach  them  that  love.  When  we 
go  there,  let  us  not  stand  off,  but  let  us  do  what  the  Lord's  com- 
passion led  Him  to  do  when  He  touched  the  leper.  And,  as  I  think 
of  it,  I  have  the  picture  of  Mr.  Stanley  Smith,  that  splendid  Cam- 
bridge man,  the  stroke  of  his  crew,  as  I  saw  him  in  his  little  chapel  in 
China.  He  is  sitting  among  the  men,  himself  attired  in  Chinese  dress, 
queue  and  all.  There  he  sits  with  his  arm  around  a  beggar,  and  those 
who  have  been  in  China  know  what  a  beggar  is.  What  Avas  it  that 
led  that  university  man  from  England's  great  university  and  from  a 
sphere  of  honor  and  great  worldly  advancement?  It  was  love.  What 
Avas  it  that  induced  him  to  put  his  arm  around  that  man's  neck  and 
prompted  him  to  lead  him  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ?  It  Avas  love. 
Those  were  the  things  that  controlled   the   Lord  Jesus   Christ,  and 


The  World's  Conquest.  191 

should  urge  His  Church  onward  and  outward  until  all  this  world  shall 
be  reached  and  all  shall  know  that  He  came  to  give  light  and  life  and 
love.     May  the  Lord  teach  us  more  and  more. 

Mr.  Sisencer  Walton  said  :  — 

Dear  friends,  I  think  the  equipment  should  be  summed  up  in  the 
command,  which  is  as  distinct  as  any  of  the  ten  commandments,  and 
that  is,  "  Be  filled  with  the  Spirit."  Some  one  lent  me  a  Bible  not 
long  ago,  and  I  saw  written  on  the  margin  against  the  name  of  Apollos 
the  words :  "  He  was  steeped  in  the  Scripture  and  boiling  in  the 
Spirit ; "  and  I  think  that  is  the  best  equipment  for  any  minister.  I 
remember  in  Scotland  once  an  engineer  poked  his  head  out  of  a  cab  of 
an  engine,  and  said  to  the  fireman,  "John,  what  is  the  matter?  haven't 
you  any  water  in  the  engine  ?  "  "  Yes,  yes,"  he  said,  "  there's  plenty 
of  water,  but  it  ain't  a-boiling."  Water  that  is  not  boiling  is  useless ; 
I  do  want  you  to  see  this.  I  hope  before  the  Convention  is  over  we 
may  have  one  or  two  special  meetings  about  the  subject  which  is 
uppermost  in  the  minds  of  many  here,  namely,  the  baptism  of  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

I  am  often  asked.  Don't  you  think  it  is  necessary  to  argue  the 
question  with  the  Africans,  and  attack  their  superstitions  ?  Of  course 
you  know  the  Africans  are  different  from  the  Indians  or  the  Chinese. 
They  are  thoroughly  superstitious.  If  you  bring  a  camera,  they  will 
run  as  if  you  had  a  gun  ;  they  will  say,  "  He  is  going  to  bewitch  me." 
Another  thing,  as  I  said  this  morning,  they  are  very  childish  in  their 
manner.  Of  course  there  are  exceptions,  but  if  you  take  it  all  through 
you  will  find  the  same  gentle  simplicity  when  you  get  them  converted. 
But  some  say,  "Don't  you  think  it  is  very  necessary  to  pass  them 
through  a  course  of  religious  training  before  they  are  ready  to  become 
Christians  ?  "  I  don't  think  it  necessary  at  all ;  it  is  very  helpful  after- 
wards. I  believe  that  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  the  same  as  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost.  A  man  said  to  me  some  time  ago,  "  What  do 
you  think  of  our  Niagara  ? "  I  said,  "  It  is  ver}^  beautiful."  "  The 
greatest  unused  power  in  the  United  States,"  he  said.  "  We  are  going 
to  light  up  some  cities  with  it  one  hundred  and  twentj^-five  miles  off." 
I  answered,  "  I  know  a  greater  unused  power."  "  What  is  it  ? "  he 
asked.  I  said,  "  The  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  it  will  light  up  the 
whole  world."  And  it  is  so.  Some  may  fancy  that  I  am  opposing 
education.  Not  a  bit.  We  want  educated  men  and  women,  but  we 
don't  want  them  if  they  are  not  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

I  had  the  inexpressible  joy  this  time  last  year  of  visiting  old 
heathen  centers  around  a  certain  district  of  South  Africa,  where  I 
preached  whenever  I  got  a  chance.     We  had  many  chances  among 


192  The  World's  Conquest. 

what  are  called  the  raw  heathen.  1  have  seen  them  come  into  the 
meeting,  and  squat  down.  We  have  a  sort  of  clay  pew,  —  hard  clay 
covered  over  with  sand,  and  rubbed  up  a  bit :  they  prefer  to  squat  down 
on  the  ground.  They  put  then-  chins  in  their  hands,  and  they  listen  ; 
and  before  the  meeting  is  over  I  have  seen  those  men  so  smitten  down 
by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  they  couldn't  leave  until  they  had 
yielded  themselves  up  in  simple  faith  and  become  Christians.  Some 
people  fancy  that  we  positively  have  in  certain  ways  to  assist  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  the  work  of  conversion,  instead  of  seeing  that  He  uses  us  by 
His  own  power  to  help  those  who  are  beyond  hixraan  effort.  When 
we  get  those  men  saved  we  put  them  in  school,  we  teach  them  the 
Bible ;  we  also  teach  them  to  sing  and  to  write. 

We  are  helped  in  this  way.  Suppose,  for  instance,  I  had  a  con- 
gregation of  twenty.  They  would  all  listen.  Then  they  would  go 
away  home,  and  there  would  perhaps  be  a  hundred  at  home  in  the 
kraal  where  they  came  from.  Then  a  fire  would  be  made  and  the  pot 
put  on  and  they  would  be  cooking  their  tea ;  they  would  all  sit  around 
and  they  would  go  through  all  that  the  missionary  said,  and  finally 
they  would  begin  to  discuss  it,  and  if  you  went  to  them  at  one  o'clock 
in  the  morning  you  would  find  them  carefully  going  through  all  that 
was  said.  Now,  let  me  say,  dear  brothers,  when  I  looked  at  your 
faces  I  felt  overpowered  when  I  thought  of  what  glorious  possibilities 
might  come  out  of  a  meeting  like  this.  If  every  one  in  this  church 
knew  what  it  is  to  be  steeped  in  the  Scriptures  and  boiling  in  the  Spirit, 
what  a  mighty  power  you  would  be  all  over  the  world ! 

Methods  ix  the  Shantung  Mission. 

The  Rev.  Gilbert  Reid  said :  — 

Since  I  have  been  at  home  in  the  United  States  I  have  felt  some- 
what of  an  unwillingness  to  return  to  the  Shantiing  Mission  and  the 
Shantung  work,  because  the  human  voice  that  gave  me  the  call  to 
enter  upon  the  work  of  missions  has  ceased  to  speak,  and  I  feel  as 
though  there  was  one  less  friend  to  be  associated  with  in  that  great 
work, —  and  that  is  Dr.  John  L.  Nevius.  It  was  through  his  original 
appeal  and  invitation  that  I  first  went  to  China,  lived  at  his  house, 
toured  with  him  in  the  interior  of  the  provinces,  learned  his  method  as 
we  sat  side  by  side  on  his  Chinese  wheelbarrow,  or  in  some  of  those 
damp  Chinese  inns  with  only  the  flicker  of  a  candle  at  night-time ;  or, 
as  we  toiled  over  the  mountain  heights,  with  the  wheelbarrow  being 
tugged  along  by  his  faithful  Chinese  servants.  I  feel  as  if  there  was 
a  kind  of  a  loneliness  in  returning  to  China.  But  I  also  am  grateful 
that  I  have  had  the  opportunity  of  being  associated  with  a  man  like 


The  World's  Conquest.  193 

Dr.  Nevius  and  of  knowing  something  of  the  better  methods  of  evan- 
gelistic Avork. 

Since  being  in  China  I  have  learned  something  of  the  tenth  chapter 
of  Matthew,  which  is  the  Magna  Charta  of  evangelistic  work.  There 
are  four  principles  in  that  chapter,  from  the  second  to  the  fourteenth 
verses:  (1)  Seek  those  who  are  nearest  to  your  influence.  "Go  not 
in  the  way  of  the  Samaritans,  but  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of 
Israel."  (2)  Seek  to  aid  others  and  others  will  aid  you.  "  As  you 
go,  preach  the  kingdom,  heal  the  sick,  care  for  the  needy."  "  Go  with- 
out purse  or  serial."  (3)  As  you  go  into  any  town,  find  the  man 
called  of  God  for  the  hearing  of  the  Gospel.  (4)  Go  with  the  spirit 
of  consolation  and  love. 

We  regard  the  city  as  the  center  of  influence,  not  as  the  limit 
of  influence,  but  the  center  of  an  extended  influence  in  the  country. 
After  the  preaching  comes  the  hard  work  of  the  missionary ;  and  that 
is,  teaching  them  to  "  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded 
you."  And  it  won't  be  done  in  a  day ;  and  I  don't  know  whether  it 
will  be  done  in  a  century.  First,  the  public  proclamation  of  the  Gospel, 
removing  theii-  prejudices,  scattering  theii*  suspicions,  making  them  yoiir 
friends,  making  them  understand  the  fundamental  basis  of  Christianity. 
Then,  teaching  those  who  are  willing  to  learn,  all  things  that  Chiist  has 
commanded  you,  all  truth  as  God  has  revealed  it  to  you.  Then,  in 
your  teaching  process,  you  will  have  first  the  teaching  in  the  inquirer's 
classes.  Pick  out  the  best  men  who  are  interested, —  one  man  from 
one  village,  and  one  from  another, —  and  bring  them  within  the  cii'cle 
of  your  influence,  and  teach  them  ten  days  or  a  month,  and  send  them 
back  to  teach  others.  Then  there  is  the  teaching  in  the  Sunday  service. 
Sometimes  we  have  the  whole  service  in  our  villages  conducted  on  the 
Sunday  school  plan  ;  from  ten  o'clock  until  three  or  four  in  the  after- 
noon it  is  teach,  teach,  teach.  Every  man  and  boy  and  girl  is  scholar 
and  teacher :  they  are  all  teaching  and  all  learning,  and  they  teach  as 
they  learn.  In  addition  to  that,  pick  out  the  best  Christians,  and  give 
them  further  training,  that  they  may  go  out  and  both  preach  and  teach 
others. 

Then  there  is  the  further  training  in  normal  schools  of  men  who 
have  Chinese  education  and  knowledge :  bring  them  in  for  a  three- 
years  com-se  of  education ;  and  they  will  go  back  to  their  neighbors  as 
scholars,  teaching  them,  and  not  at  the  same  time  denationalizing  them. 
Then  there  is  the  teaching  of  the  theological  classes  for  three  years : 
some  of  the  students  are  supported  by  the  native,  some  by  the  foreign, 
fund.  We  go  upon  the  principle  that  the  native  pastor  shall  be  sup- 
ported by  native  churches,  but  that  the  helpers  shall  be  supported  by 
foreign  funds.  It  is  cheaper  for  you  to  support  twenty  native  helpers 
than  one  foreign  missionary.     And  if  there  is  only  one  alternative, — 


194  The  World's  Conquest. 

either  a  new  foreign  missionary  or  twenty  helpers, —  I  say,  give  us  the 
helpers.  But  we  want  them  both, —  a  new  foreign  missionary  to  teach, 
to  train  tAventy  new  helpers.  The  native  cannot  get  along  without  the 
foreign  missionary.     We  must  work  together. 

I  had  an  old  man  seventy  years  of  age  in  om*  class.  He  had  never 
heard  of  the  Gospel  before.  His  home  had  been  swept  away  by  the 
floods  of  the  Yellow  River.  He  came  into  our  class  while  we  were  ex- 
plaining the  Gospel  of  St.  John.  The  Chinese  first  idea  of  Chx-ist  is 
that  He  was  a  foreigner,  hence  they  despise  Him ;  secondly,  that  He  is 
a  great  sage,  and  they  respect  Him  ;  and  thirdly,  that  He  is  the  SaA-iom- 
and  the  only  Saviom-  under  heaven.  At  the  close  of  the  class,  this  old 
man,  day  by  day,  would  come  up  to  me  and  say,  "  I  wish  I  were  twenty 
or  thirty  years  old,  and  here  I  am  seventy  and  cannot  help  you  much ; 
but  I  am  going  to  work  all  the  rest  of  my  life  and  try  to  teach  my 
neighbors  the  Gospel  of  Christ." 

God  is  preparing  the  way  in  China.  In  every  village  to  which  I  go 
I  go  upon  the  supposition  that  there  is  some  person  there  prepared  by 
the  Lord  for  the  hearing  of  the  Gospel.  The  Lord  has  gone  first  and  I 
have  gone  afterwards,  and  the  Lord  works  with  us ;  and  the  Saviour  is 
there  in  accordance  with  His  promise :  "  Lo  I  am  with  you  alway,  even 
unto  the  end  of  the  world." 

Methods  in  the  Country. 

The  Rev.  F.  G.  Coan  said:  — 

Having  been  engaged  for  eight  years  in  evangelistic  work  in  Persia, 
the  facts  which  I  am  about  to  state  have  come  under  my  OMn\  personal 
observation  and  the  truths  derived  have  been  wrought  out  of  personal 
experience. 

Evangelistic  work  in  Persia  may  be  divided  into  two  classes :  First, 
work  carried  on  where  we  have  an  established  center ;  secondly,  work 
carried  on  in  various  places  at  a  distance  from  that  center,  in  commun- 
ities where  the  Gospel  has  not  been  preached.  We  have  in  Persia  to- 
day about  one  hundred  organized  churches,  through  which  we  are 
enabled  every  year  to  carry  on  a  systematic  evangelistic  work.  In 
carrying  on  that  work  where  we  have  organized  churches  we  usually 
correspond  with  our  hel])ers  in  the  fall,  and  try  to  get  them  to  prepare 
the  villages  for  the  work,  just  as  you  do  here  at  home.  We  encourage 
them  to  have  house  to  house  visitation,  to  induce  the  people  to  come 
out  to  the  service.  We  tell  the  helpers  that  wherever  the  people  are 
interested  to  let  us  know,  and  we  will  come  and  help  them. 

Who  are  the  men  we  use  for  helpers  ?  We  have  heard  a  great  deal 
to-day  about  the  need  of  a  good  equipment  for  service  ;  and  we  need 
the  very  best  we  can  get.     On  the  other  hand,  I  am  glad  to  tell  you 


The  World's  Conquest.  195 

that  the  Lord  is  able  to  use  any  one  if  only  he  is  filled  with  the  Sj^irit 
and  is  willing  to  be  used  by  Him.  The  young  men  who  have  helped 
me  in  my  work  are  not  any  of  them  trained  evangelists,  and  very  nearly 
all  of  them  are  laymen.  But  they  love  the  Word  of  God,  and  they 
have  a  burning  love  for  souls.  Those  young  men  come  around  in  the 
fall  and  offer  themselves  for  the  work,  and  how  glad  I  am  to  avail  my- 
self of  their  services.  Taking  one  or  two  of  these  young  men  we  start 
off  on  our  evangelistic  campaign.  Our  tour  includes  the  five  or  six 
villages  in  reach  of  our  central  point.  There,  in  one  place  where  we 
had  a  blessed  week's  work,  the  only  place  where  all  could  meet  was  in 
a  native  house  which  consisted  of  four  mud  walls,  and  a  few  holes  in 
the  roof  to  let  out  the  smoke  and  let  in  light.  Often  in  one  corner  the 
wood  piled  up,  in  another  the  bedding ;  in  another  corner  the  house- 
hold utensils,  and  in  another  the  farming  utensils  brought  in  until 
needed  in  spring.  The  jjeople  would  come  in  xmtil  the  house  was  full. 
One  man,  I  remember,  had  come  in  there  on  purpose  to  break  that 
meeting  up.  He  was  a  very  hard  case ;  he  didn't  believe  in  this  evangel- 
istic work.  And  while  that  man  stood  there  waiting,  his  little  boy, 
who  was  convicted  of  sin,  rose  up  with  streaming  eyes  and  asked  us  to 
pray  for  him.  The  Spirit  felled  that  man  to  the  ground.  We  thought 
he  had  fainted,  and  the  tears  streamed  from  his  eyes  as  he  said,  "  God, 
have  mercy  on  me  a  sinner.  If  my  little  boy  needs  to  be  saved,  how 
much  more  I  need  it." 

After  this  service  is  over,  the  young  men  who  are  with  me  follow 
it  up.  We  try  to  take  the  names  of  all  who  seem  to  be  under  the 
conviction  of  sin.  We  go  from  house  to  house,  \dsiting  them  and 
praj'ing  with  them.  After  we  leave  the  village,  we  hand  then-  names 
to  the  pastors  and  to  the  elders,  and  they  see  that  every  man  who  has 
come  under  the  conviction  of  sin  is  handed  over  to  some  chm'ch  mem- 
ber, in  order  that  that  work  may  be  gathered  up.  The  harvest  is  a 
rich  one,  not  only  in  what  we  are  able  to  see,  but  in  the  experience  to 
ourselves.  Only  the  other  day  I  had  a  letter  from  a  native  pastor, 
which  I  think  gave  me  greater  pleasure  than  any  letter  I  ever  received. 
He  wrote,  "  As  the  winter  comes  on,  we  are  looking  around,  and  won- 
dering who  will  take  your  place,  who  is  to  go  out  in  these  villages,  and 
organize  the  campaign,  and  carry  on  the  work.  Our  hearts  long  for 
you,  and  cry  out  for  you."  I  thought,  "  Yes,  my  heart  longs  for  you ; 
and  God  hasten  the  day  when  I  can  go  back  to  those  people  who  are 
so  dear  to  me,  and  among  whom  I  hope,  as  our  brother  has  said,  to 
live  and  to  die."  And  then,  speaking  of  last  winter's  work,  he  says,  "  I 
want  to  encourage  you  by  saying  that  all  the  j^eople  converted  in  this 
village  last  winter  are  standing  firm  in  the  faith,  and  are  growing  in 
knowledge  and  in  grace."  That  is  one  way  we  are  carrying  on  our 
evangelistic  work  there. 


196  The  World's  Conquest. 

I  went  once  to  work  in  four  villages,  and  services  were  carried  on 
four  days  without  a  sign  of  the  work  of  the  Spirit.  Every  morning 
the  pastor  and  myself  would  go  into  a  vineyard  and  ask  God's  bless- 
ing. Finally,  on  Wednesday,  I  said,  "  What  is  the  trouble  ?  Let  us 
stay  here,  and  let  us  Avrestle  with  God,  and  tell  Him  we  will  not  leave 
this  place  until  we  have  some  token  of  His  presence  Avith  us."  We 
stayed  there  and  prayed  on,  until  finally  I  noticed  that  the  prayers 
sounded  very  different  from  any  prayers  we  had  had  so  far.  As  we 
rose  with  our  eyes  streaming,  and  went  back  to  the  village,  I  said, 
"  Thank  God  for  the  souls  that  are  going  to  be  converted  to-night." 
A  young  layman  said  to  me,  "  Sahib,  how  many  souls  are  going  to  be 
converted  to-night  ?  "  I  said,  "  I  can't  say  in  point  of  numbers."  He 
said,  "  I  believe  there  will  be  over  a  dozen."  Sixteen  accepted  Christ 
that  night,  and  fifty-four  before  the  week  was  over.  That  is  the  place 
where  the  pastor  in  writing  to  me  says  the  work  remained. 

In  the  distant  villages  remember  that  we  are  speaking  to  those  who 
never  had  an  opportunity  to  hear  the  Word  of  God  before.  Realizing 
as  I  do  how  hungry  they  are  in  Persia  for  the  Gospel,  I  can't  tell  you 
how  I  sympathize  with  my  poor  classmates  who  feel  that  they  are 
called  to  stay  home,  and  preach  over  and  over,  Sabbath  after  Sabbath, 
to  those  who  are  saturated  with  the  Gospel,  and,  if  I  may  be  pardoned 
the  expression,  almost  tired  of  it. 

Just  one  illustration  to  show  you  how  God  does  use  His  Word  to 
strengthen  our  faith  : 

A  young  man  said  to  me,  "  Sahib,  I  want  to  discuss  with  you." 

I  said,  "  I  have  no  time  for  discussion ;  but  I  desire  you  to  read 
the  fourth  chapter  of  Acts,  the  twelfth  verse."  As  the  man  opened 
the  Testament,  I  closed  my  eyes  and  said,  "  Oh,  Father,  take  Thy 
Word,  and  with  it  pierce  that  man's  heart." 

The  young  man  said,  "  I  don't  see  anything  in  that." 

I  said,  "  Read  it  again." 

After  he  had  read  it  four  or  five  times  he  said,  "  Oh  I  see  it ;  I 
never  did  before  :  '  Neither  is  there  salvation  in  any  other ;  for  there 
is  none  other  name  ixnder  heaven  given  among  men,  whereby  we  must 
be  saved.'" 

That  young  man  right  there  accepted  Christ,  and  is  preaching  Christ 
there  without  pay  in  that  village  to-day. 

The  Best  Method  op  Training  Evangelists. 

Mr.  Leonard  said  :  — 

After  we  have  been  on  the  field  for  a  few  years  we  have  not  as  much 
to  say  about  our  methods  as  beforehand.     There  are  so  many  new 


The  World's  Coxquest.  197 

needs,  new  conditions,  that  the  things  which  we  had  talked  about  be- 
fore we  went  out  there  don't  apply,  that  is,  very  largely ;  so  that,  as  to 
the  preparations  we  were  speaking  about  this  morning,  the  preparations 
for  missionary  work,  I  would  say,  do  just  exactly  in  your  college  work 
as  if  3'ou  were  going  to  be  a  pastor  here.  Make  the  best  efforts  to 
cultivate  the  mind,  and  become  as  broad  minded  as  you  possibly  can. 
When  your  field  is  decided,  make  your  special  preparations.  But  it 
is  after  you  have  put  your  feet  on  the  foreign  field  that  your  best  work 
of  preparation  will  be  done.  Then  it  is  going  to  take  you  years  to 
prepare.  The  fact  is,  that  our  ideas  are  so  theoretical  that  when  we 
come  to  put  them  into  practice  they  don't  work.  We  are  dealing  with 
people  that  have  altogether  different  ideas  from  our  own,  dealing  with 
men  that  don't  think  as  we  do,  especially  in  the  East.  And  one  of  the 
greatest  blessings  to  a  young  missionary  in  going  into  these  Eastern 
fields  is  that  his  mouth  is  shut  until  he  learns  the  people.  He  must 
come  to  know  them,  learn  how  to  bear  with  their  infii-mities  and  weak- 
nesses, or  he  would  be  very  apt  to  do  a  great  deal  of  damage  at  first. 

Bring  your  evangelists  in  touch  with  the  JJolj  Spirit.  Go  with 
them,  associate  with  them  just  as  intimately  as  you  can  as  a  Christian 
brother.  Give  them  as  much  benefit  as  you  can  from  your  richer 
Christian  experience.  We  know  how  we  were  all  touched  this  morn- 
ing by  the  words  of  Dr.  Taylor  of  the  China  Inland  Mission.  Why  ? 
Simply  because  he  quickened  our  spiritual  lives.  Now,  that  is  just 
what  we  want  to  do  with  all  helpers,  whether  at  home  or  abroad.  If 
we  can  keep  them  in  an  earnest  Christian  spiiit,  we  have  done  for  them 
perhaps  all  it  is  possible  for  \is  to  do. 

Along  with  this,  and  ministering  to  it,  we  are  to  bring  our  evangel- 
ists in  touch  with  the  Word  of  God.  It  is  no  credit  to  us  if  we  have 
learned  our  Bibles.  It  is  our  privilege  to  bring  these  men  who  are 
only  childi-en  in  Christ  to  a  richer  knowledge  of  the  Word  of  God, 
and  as  they  come  to  know  the  Scriptures  they  will  have  power  with 
men.  Then  we  are  to  help  these  brethren  in  moral  courage.  It  is  really 
amazing  sometimes  to  us,  certainly  discouraging,  when  we  see  these 
people  ha^dng  so  little  moral  courage  to  stand  up  and  face  the  preju- 
dices of  their  fellowmen.  Not  that  they  are  not  consecrated  men  and 
devoted  workers ;  but  their  intellectual  training  from  childhood  has 
induced  weaknesses  along  lines  where  we  intellectually  as  Americans  and 
Englishmen  ai-e  strong;  and  very  often  they  are  not  able  to  stand  up 
and  bear  the  brimt  of  criticisms  that  we  would  simply  turn  aside  as 
ha-snng  no  influence  upon  us.  It  is  ours  to  strengthen  them  in  those 
things,  to  encourage  them  to  move  out  upon  the  lines  that  they  think 
it  is  perfectly  impossible  to  do. 

Now,  m  all  those  things  we  are  to  speak  with  these  brethren,  talk 
with  them  concerning  individual  men.     I  have  found  it  always  seemed 


198  The  World's  Conquest. 

to  stir  the  evangelists  that  Avere  working  with  me  to  get  them  around 
me  and  commence  talking  about  the  individual.  "  You  had  a  talk  with 
that  man  the  other  day ;  what  did  he  tell  you  ?  "  Then  he  would  begin 
to  rehearse  the  conversation ;  and  the  ver}^  fact  of  rehearsing  the  con- 
versations with  individuals  seemed  to  stir  the  individual  life  of  the 
helper  and  the  evangelist.  His  eyes  would  brighten  with  interest,  and 
it  would  be  my  part  to  suggest  answers  to  certain  difficult  questions 
that  had  been  proposed  by  the  inquirer  and  thus  help  him  in  the  future  ; 
thus  showing  him  how  he  might  handle  certain  questions  that  would 
come  up.  In  all  these  cases  we  come  to  the  hand  to  hand  work  with 
individuals  and  we  help  our  evangelists  to  come  in  touch  with  men. 
So  that  I  should  say  that  we  must  help  our  evangelists  to  come  in 
touch  with  God,  with  His  Holy  Word,  and  with  the  men  whom  they 
try  to  influence. 

The  Rev.  A.  T.  Rose,  D.D.,  said  :  — 

When  Dr.  Judson  commenced  his  great  work  in  Burma  we  prob- 
ably knew  nothing  of  the  wild  tribes  occupying  that  country,  the 
most  interesting  among  which,  perhaps,  are  the  Karens.  I  have 
heard  this  remarkable  storj^  concerning  them :  Many  years  ago, 
while  Dr.  Judson  was  in  Rangoon,  spending  his  main  time  in  the 
study  of  the  language,  but  preaching  a  little  every  day,  an  old  Karen 
chief  from  Bassein,  one  hundred  miles  west,  came  to  Rangoon.  He 
had  heard  about  this  white  teacher.  He  saw  him,  but  he  hadn't  the 
courage  to  speak  to  him.  But  he  learned  from  the  Burmans  that  he 
was  a  white  teacher  from  the  West,  and  that  he  claimed  to  have  God's 
Book,  and  that  he  was  there  learning  the  Bux'mese  language,  intending, 
as  soon  as  he  was  able,  to  translate  this  Book  into  the  Burmese  lan- 
guage. Now,  the  Karens  have  some  very  remarkable  traditions,  among 
them  one  to  this  effect :  Once  the  Karens  were  a  united  and  a  happy 
people.  They  had  God's  law ;  they  had  a  guide  and  Divine  teacher. 
But,  on  account  of  their  indifference  to  God's  law,  their  wickedness, 
their  drunkeness,  their  ignorance,  God  was  displeased  and  took  from 
them  His  love.  But  still,  the  tradition  goes  on  to  say,  our  God  is 
merciful  and  the  time  will  come  when  He  will  send  back  His  law  to  the 
Karens  and  the  Karens  will  receive  it.  A  white  teacher,  the  tradition 
says,  shall  come  from  the  far  West,  and  bring  back  the  Book  of  God. 
This  old  chief,  when  he  went  home,  called  together  some  of  his  brother 
chiefs,  told  them  where  he  had  been,  what  he  had  heard,  and  then  he 
suggested  this  inquiry :  May  it  not  be  that  here  in  this  white  teacher  in 
Ragoon  we  have  the  fulfillment  of  our  tradition  ?  May  it  not  be  that 
this  is  the  white  teacher  that  is  to  come  to  us  and  bring  back  the  Book 
of  God?     They  discussed  it,  but  the  conclusion  was  no.     For,  said 


The  World's  Conquest.  199 

they,  as  to  this  white  teacher  in  Rangoon,  he  has  not  come  to  the  Karens, 
but  only  to  the  Burmans.  The  Burmans  are  our  enemies,  our  ojDpres- 
sors ;  and  whoever  comes  to  the  Burmans  cannot  be  our  teacher  or 
our  friend.  So  the  matter  rested.  Two  or  three  or  four  years  later 
Messrs.  Vinton  and  Abbott,  having  learned  the  Karen  language  to  some 
extent,  in  America,  from  two  Cliristian  Karens  brought  back  from 
Burmah  by  Dr.  Wade,  went  to  Burmah  and  from  thence  to  a  town  in 
the  district  of  the  Karens.  When  they  arrived  there  they  found  two 
or  three  hundred  men,  and  two  or  three  thousand  came  in  several  days. 
And  when  these  teachers  spoke  to  them  in  their  own  language  and  said  : 
"  We  heard  of  you  in  our  far-off  American  home,  and  our  hearts  pitied 
you  and  loved  you.  And  we  have  been  learning  your  language,  and 
now  we  are  here  among  you.  We  have  brought  God's  Book,  and  as 
soon  as  we  can  we  will  give  it  to  you  in  your  own  language."  "  Then," 
they  said,  "  the  case  is  different.  Here  are  white  teachers  from  the 
West  who  come  to  us.  Already  they  can  speak  oiu-  language,  and  they 
have  got  God's  Book.  Here,  certainly,  is  the  fulfillment  of  our  tradi- 
tions." It  was  so  accepted,  and  it  went  fi-om  village  to  village  that  a 
white  teacher  had  come  from  the  West  in  fulfillment  of  the  tradition  of 
the  elders.  The  old  chiefs  said,  "  We  are  old  and  can't  do  anything, 
but  we  want  our  children  to  know  God's  Book." 

These  Karens  had  no  Maitten  language  or  alphabet.  They  were 
just  as  ignorant  as  possible.  What  has  been  the  result?  The  work 
commenced  largely  first  by  teaching.  As  fast  as  possible  little  schools 
were  established  here  and  little  schools  there,  of  fifty  or  sixty  or  one 
hundred,  resulting  very  soon  in  the  conversion  of  the  children  and 
youth.  And  the  best  preachers,  the  best  workers,  have  come  to  us 
from  the  Karens  through  these  Christian  schools.  I  will  just  say  that 
we  have  now  among  Karens  not  less  than  five  hundi-ed  Christian 
churches,  and  they  are  as  much  entitled  to  that  ajipellation  of  Christian 
churches  as  our  churches  at  home.  They  are  missionary  churches,  not 
in  the  sense  that  they  have  come  into  life  through  missionary  effort, 
but  in  that  they  are  carrying  the  Gospel  into  the  regions  beyond. 
Twenty  years  ago  they  picked  out  their  best  young  men  pastors  and 
their  wives  and  said,  "  You  go  away  on  the  borders  of  China."  These 
men  went  up  into  the  hills  or  lived  in  the  villages,  learned  the  language 
and  established  schools,  and  now  we  have  Christian  churches  and 
schools  among  the  bloody  Cochins  on  the  borders  of  China.  They 
have  gone  and  found  theii-  own  scattered  tribes  of  Karens  in  Japan, 
and  to-day  they  are  carrying  on  the  work  of  foreign  missions.  So  we 
have  this  to  encourage  us,  that  these  churches,  raised  up  in  fifty  or  sixty 
years  from  an  ignorant  and  low  people,  are  now  missionarj^  churches, 
and  are  carrying  the  Gospel  into  the  region  beyond. 


200  The  World's  Coxquest. 

The  Rising  Movement  Among  the  Low  Caste  People  op  India. 

The  Rev.  Reese  Thackwell  said  :  — 

The  work  in  India  has  now  i-eached  a  stage  which  is  exceedingly  in- 
teresting. In  the  past  it  was  accompanied  with  many  discouragements. 
We  had  to  contend  with  caste  and  its  difficulties.  But  the  Spirit  of 
God  is  at  work  moving  in  India  and  touching  all  classes  of  people,  the 
educated  as  well  as  the  uneducated,  the  high  caste  as  well  as  the  low 
caste. 

But  what  I  have  been  asked  to  speak  about  this  evening  is  particu- 
larly the  movements  among  the  low  caste,  simultaneous  movements  in 
different  parts  of  the  country  there.  These  movements  are  undoubt- 
edly of  God,  though  it  pleased  God  to  use  human  instrumentalities  and 
a  famine  as  the  means  of  beginning  this  work.  Some  years  ago  there 
was  a  terrible  famine  in  the  south  of  India.  Thousands  of  people  per- 
ished. The  Christian  missionaries,  moved  with  great  sympathy  for  the 
people,  wrote  to  America  and  England,  stating  the  need  of  cities,  and 
the  missionai'ies  were  made  the  vehicles  of  conveying  the  benefactions 
of  Christian  people  to  these  poor  starving  people.  Such  was  the  effect 
on  them  that  they  became  convinced  that  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  true  religion,  because  there  was  a  manifest  proof  of  it  in  those 
missionaries  moving  among  them  and  dispensing  food.  The  result  was 
that  there  was  a  great  incoming,  very  largely  to  the  Church  of  England, 
and  not  entirely  to  the  Church  of  England,  but  to  other  churches  also. 
But,  strangely  enough,  there  were  simultaneous  movements  going  on 
in  different  parts  of  the  country.  These  low  castes  are  scattered  all 
over  the  country.  There  are  some  districts  in  which  they  are  more 
numerous  than  in  others.  They  are  there  by  multitudes,  and  there  is  a 
simultaneous  trend  toward  Christianity  among  them.  During  the  last 
years  there  have  been  tens  of  thousands  of  them  baptized ;  and  it  looks 
as  though  the  time  is  coming  when  it  will  be  a  question  what  will  we 
do  when  we  have  them.  How  will  we  train  them  and  teach  them? 
All  through  the  Punjab  they  are  being  gathered  in.  The  Methodist 
brethren  began  to  take  notice  of  the  low  castes  before  the  Presbyterians 
did ;  and  by  so  doing  they  brought  some  thousands  and  tens  of  thou- 
sands into  the  fold.  But  all  the  missionaries  are  now  wide  awake  as  to 
the  importance  of  this  movement,  recognizing  it  as  a  genuine  work  of 
the  Spirit.  It  is  quite  possible  that  some  of  the  2)eople  are  influenced 
by  mixed  motives.  They  have  some  social  advantage  in  becoming 
Christians,  for  they  are  village  serfs.  But  it  is  an  indisputable  fact  that 
thousands  have  been  truly  converted  to  God,  and  have  taken  the  great 
step  with  no  ulterior  motive  in  view. 

Now,  what  are  we  to  do  with  them  ?  How  are  we  to  teach  them 
and  train  them?     We  began  it  out  in  the  Presbyterian  missions  there 


The  World's  Conquest.  201 

in  a  very  simple  way.  One  of  our  native  brethren,  a  most  excellent 
man,  out  at  a  place  called  Ropa,  began  to  solve  this  difficulty  of  train- 
ing them  so  they  might  be  able  to  carry  the  religious  services  among 
themselves.  Going  into  a  village  after  preaching  the  Gospel  there  and 
baptizing  six  or  eight,  he  would  pick  out  the  man  mth  the  most  intel- 
ligence, and  say,  "  Come  along  with  me."  He  would  take  that  man 
away  to  his  tent  or  home,  and  keep  him  two  or  three  weeks.  He 
would  get  that  man  to  commit  to  memory  portions  of  the  Scripture, 
and  go  on  teaching  and  catechizing  him ;  and  when  he  found  he  had 
a  pretty  good  idea  of  the  leading  doctrines  of  Scripture  and  salvation 
through  the  blood  of  Christ,  then  he  Avould  send  him  back  into  the 
village  to  work  among  his  own  people.  This  evangelist  had  seen  how 
the  service  was  conducted,  and  he  would  go  and  hold  service  among 
his  brethren.  For  this  he  would  in  the  same  way  select  another.  And 
so  the  work  is  going  on.  We  are  training  the  men  to  teach  one  an- 
other ;  so  that  we  are  looking  forward  to  the  time,  very  soon  too,  of 
seeing  a  multitude  of  village  churches  being  taught  religious  truth  and 
being  ministered  to  hj  the  people  of  the  villages  themselves.  And  in 
this  way  the  work  will  be  no  expense  whatever  to  the  mission  there. 

The  Personal  Saveetness  and  Privilege  of  the  Evangelistic 

Work. 

Rev.  George  A.  Ford,  of  S\Tia,  said :  — 

It  is  a  privilege,  because  it  is  the  most  direct  expression  that  is 
given  by  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  missionary.  The  Spirit  speaks  in 
various  ways,  but  He  certainly  speaks  most  directly  in  that  form  of 
work  we  call  evangelistic  work.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  gift  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  the  only  one  thing  for  a  man  to  settle  for  his  missionary 
work.  Am  I  a  piece  of  iron  dipped  in  molasses  to  attract,  or  a  piece 
of  iron  magnetized  to  draw  people  to  Christ?  Am  I  a  man  whose 
power  is  irresistible,  because  it  is  the  power  of  the  Spirit  in  the  living 
God  ?  Every  man  should  know  that  before  he  goes  abroad.  Has  he 
had  that  baptism  of  His  Spirit  for  service,  without  Avhich  every  man 
must  be  more  of  a  stumbling-block  than  a  help  in  whatever  sphere  of 
life  he  professes  to  serve  the  living  Christ?  Now,  the  preciousness  of 
direct  evangelistic  work  lies  in  that. 

You  and  I,  as  we  go  abroad,  are  under  the  temptation  to  fall  so 
largely  into  the  secular  divisions  of  this  work.  I  believe  you  might 
as  well  try  to  set  off  a  man's  body,  soul,  and  spirit  in  three  churches, 
as  to  set  off  the  missionary  work  into  three  branches,  the  medical, 
the  educational,  and  the  evangelistic.  If  a  missionary  is  devoting  his 
time  to  the  medical  work  or  to  the  work  in  the  schools,  my  experience 
is  that   there    is   a   constant   tendencv  for  him   to    lose    sight  of  the 


202  The  World's  Conquest. 

evangelistic  work.  Our  constant  prayer  should  be  that  in  all  our 
transactions,  in  all  our  dealings  with  the  natives,  the  Spirit  should 
be  so  with  us  that  His  presence  may  be  manifest  and  His  influence 
be  felt.  It  seems  to  me  it  is  just  like  the  old  temple.  The  Holy 
of  Holies  had  no  direct  gate  into  it.  There  was  an  entrance  first 
into  the  outer  court,  then  into  the  holy  place,  and  then  from  that 
into  the  Holy  of  Holies.  The  evangelistic  work  has  no  direct  gate 
into  it.  You  have  got  to  go  through  the  court,  the  body ;  through 
the  holy  place,  the  mind,  in  order  to  get  into  the  Holy  of  Holies, 
the  heart.  But  we  don't  want  to  be  like  the  women  and  the  Gentiles, 
who  are  allowed  simply  a  place  in  the  outer  court ;  we  don't  want  to 
be  the  ordinary  Levite,  with  access  to  the  holy  place.  No ;  God  has 
made  us  high  priests,  and  Christ  has  taken  us  right  into  His  own 
marvellous  presence,  that  we  may  with  Him  enter  into  the  Holy  of 
Holies,  reaching  men's  hearts  through  their  minds  and  bodies,  effec- 
tively for  the  work  of  evangelization. 

I  wish  I  had  more  time  to  take  up  the  different  elements  of  sweet- 
ness in  this  work ;  but  this  gives  you  an  idea  of  the  mighty  privilege 
of  him  who  seeks  to  make  his  life  the  evangelistic  life.  The  best 
evangelistic  agency  we  have  had  in  our  own  field  has  been  our  boys' 
training  school.  To  give  you  an  interesting  illustration :  There  was 
Michael  Abraham.  He  went  out  to  a  Catholic  village,  where  the 
shrine  of  the  Virgin  is  like  the  throne  of  Diana  in  Ephesus.  And, 
as  soon  as  he  entered  with  two  or  three  comrades  and  began  to  sing, 
the  people  waited  until  a  number  had  gathered ;  and,  when  they  found 
that  these  Gospel  fiends,  as  they  called  them,  had  come  there  to  corrupt 
their  morals  with  the  pure  Gospel,  they  invited  them,  under  cover  of 
deception,  into  a  house,  and  beat  them.  The  younger  boys  slipped 
away,  but  this  tall  fellow,  Michael,  took  the  brunt  of  it.  In  the  even- 
ing, as  we  sat  together,  the  boys  in  the  training  school  asked  for  reports. 
The  boy  Abraham  told  his  own  experience,  and  he  showed  the  effects 
of  that  beating ;  and  I  said,  "  Michael,  do  you  want  to  go  back  there 
next  Sunday?"  He  thought  a  little,  and  hesitated.  I  said,  "Michael, 
have  you  got  the  courage  to  go  back  there,  and  show  them  you  will 
take  another  beating  for  Christ's  love?"  And  he  said,  "I  have."  The 
battle  was  fought.  Michael  went  back  the  next  Sunday.  He  reached 
the  village  with  his  companions.  No  sooner  was  it  found  that  Michael 
was  in  the  village  than  the  chief  man  of  the  village  sent  for  him  and 
said,  "  I  am  sorry  for  Avhat  happened  last  Sunday.  If  you  will  tell  me 
who  beat  you,  I  will  chastise  them.  You  will  never  be  beaten  again 
in  this  village." 

The  company  went  into  another  village  still  more  bigoted,  and  mass 
was  not  out.  When  the  old  priest  came  out  he  fumed  and  threatened 
and  said,  "  Mob  them,  kill  them,  burn  them."     So  they  hustled  them 


The  Wokld's  CoNciUEsx.  203 

out  and  said,  "  You  can  never  go  out  alive  a  second  time."  The  young 
man  came  hack  to  the  school.  I  said,  "  Brothers,  before  you  went 
into  that  village  did  you  realize  that  you  could  not  go  in  your  own 
strength,  and  did  you  stop  by  the  way  and  ask  God  to  open  the 
way?"  They  said,  "  No."  «  Will  you  go  again  ?  "  "We  will."  So 
the  next  Sabbath  they  went ;  and  there  under  the  mulberry  trees  they 
stopped  before  entering  the  village,  and  prayed  God  He  would  open  the 
way.  They  Avent  to  the  same  place,  and  waited  for  the  same  mass  to 
be  out.  And  the  people  gathered  about  them  as  before,  and  the  old 
priest  came  and  sat  down  and  heard  them  read  the  Testament ;  and 
they  came  away  learning  a  lesson  they  never  forgot.  The  evangel- 
istic work,  pursued  always  according  to  the  will  of  Christ,  is  the  most 
precious  and  the  most  telling  that  a  man  can  do. 


MEDICAL  MISSION  CONFERENCE. 


Thursday  Apterxoon,  March  1,  1894. 

Mr.  Frank  Keller,  of  New  York,  Chairman. 

Mr.  Keller  had  prepared  an  immense  chart  upon  medical  missions. 
It  consisted  of  two  very  large  square  diagrams.  One  square  was  all 
black,  with  the  exception  of  one  small  white  spot  in  the  center,  repre- 
senting one  medical  missionary  to  2,500,000  persons  in  China.  The 
other  was  white,  and  had  4,000  dots  upon  it,  representing  the  number 
of  jihysicians  to  2,500,000  people  in  the  United  States.  Above  the 
diagrams  were  the  Saviour's  words,  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  to  one 
of  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it  not  to  me^ 

The  Rev.  H.  P.  Beach  said :  — 

I  have  been  impressed  with  the  fact  that  the  Anglo  Saxon  Gospels 
almost  uniformly  used  the  word  translated  "  healer "  for  "  Jesus." 
This  suggests  the  kind  of  work  which  Jesus  actually  accomplished 
when  among  men.  He  was  the  healer,  not  only  of  bodily  diseases,  but 
of  the  soul.  This  suggested  three  verses  in  the  Prophecy  of  Jeremiah : 
the  twentieth,  twenty-first,  and  twenty-second  verses  of  the  eighth 
chapter.  The  twentieth,  "  The  harvest  is  past,  the  summer  is  ended 
and  we  are  not  saved,"  is  one  of  the  most  pathetic  in  the  whole  Bible, 
The  appeal  which  follows  in  the  remainder  of  the  chapter  is,  however, 
almost  as  pathetic :  "  For  the  hurt  of  the  daughter  of  my  people  am  I 
hurt  *  *  *  Is  there  no  balm  in  Gilead,  is  there  no  physician  there  ?" 
Connecting  this  thought  with  the  Gospel  representation  of  the  healer, 
we  see  how  perfectly  Jesus  met  the  want  of  the  ancient  world. 

The  medical  missionary  is  in  this  time  the  healer,  just  as  was  Jesus, 
of  the  body  and  also  of  the  soul.  Look  at  the  great  heathen  nations 
of  the  earth.  Are  they  not  in  as  great  need  of  the  balm  of  Gilead 
and  the  great  physician  as  were  the  Jews  in  Christ's  time  ?  In  some 
senses  they  are  in  greater  need,  and  this  ought  to  appeal  to  every  one 


Thk  World's  Conquest.  205 

present.  We  ought,  every  one  of  us,  to  ask  ourselves  what  the  Lord's 
will  is  for  us  in  this  matter,  and  for  the  hurt  of  the  daughter  of  our 
people  we  should  be  willing  to  be  hurt.  Dr.  J.  G.  Kerr,  who  was  to 
have  been  present  this  afternoon,  has  done  for  the  heathen  empire  of 
China  more  than  he  ever  could  have  done  in  Amei'ica.  He  has  been 
the  healer  of  souls  as  was  Peter  Parker,  the  founder  of  medical  mis- 
sions in  that  empire. 

We  are  not  to  consider  the  sacrifice  which  this  work  will  bring  to 
us.  A  woman  suffering  from  cataract  came  to  our  hospital.  Not  long 
after  the  operation  she  was  seen  kneeling  with  bared  knees  upon  a 
number  of  date  stones  upon  a  brick  bed.  "  Does  it  not  pain  you  ? " 
she  was  asked.  "  Yes,"  was  the  reply,  "  and  that  is  why  I  am  doing 
it.  Since  I  came  to  this  hospital  you  have  tried  to  open  my  eyes,  but 
you  have  also  opened  my  heart.  I  have  learned  of  Jesus'  love  for  me. 
I  am  poor  and  aged  and  can  do  nothing  for  Him.  Because  He  has 
suffered  such  infinite  pain  for  my  sake,  I  thought  to  myself  I  would 
suffer  a  little  for  Plim."  It  was  a  partially  heathen  idea,  but  the  Chris- 
tian physician  may  well  think  of  that  woman's  words.  If  she,  just 
emerging  from  heathenism,  wanted  to  suffer  for  Christ's  sake,  how 
much  more  ought  Christian  medical  students  to  be  willing  to  go  into 
that  great  emjiire,  and  other  needy  nations,  for  the  sake  of  humanity 
and  Christ,  even  though  it  be  at  some  sacrifice. 

A  Sketch  of   Medical  Missions  in  China. 

Rev.  W.  R.  Lambuth,  M.D.,  said :  — 

I  In  order  to  respect  the  work  which  we  are  called  upon  to  engage 
in,  we  must  look  to  the  authority  that  is  behind  us,  and  I  simply  call 
your  attention  to  that  card  [pointing  to  a  text  upon  the  wall]  :  "  And 
Jesus  went  about  *  *  *  teaching  in  their  synagogues,  and  preaching 
the  Gospel  of  the  kingdom,  and  healing  all  manner  of  sickness  and  all 
manner  of  disease  among  the  people."  It  informs  us  that  we  cannot 
separate  the  teaching  from  the  healing.  In  Matt.  10 :  7,  8,  we  find 
that  Jesus  sent  the  twelve  out  to  heal  the  sick,  and  again,  in  sending 
out  the  seventy,  as  recorded  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  Luke,  He  uses 
almost  the  identical  words.  In  the  last  chapter  of  Mark  we  find  He 
said,  "  They  shall  lay  hands  on  the  sick,  and  they  shall  recover."  Such 
is  the  command  of  the  Master.  We  have,  therefore,  definite  author- 
ity behind  us  for  this  work,  and,  more  than  all,  we  have  the  illustrious 
example  of  Jesus,  the  Great  Physician,  i 

Medical  mission  work  was  taken  up  in  1835  by  Rev.  Peter  Parker, 
M.D.  He  was  a  preacher  and  a  physician  in  Canton.  In  his  second 
quarterly  report  he  recognized  the  fact  that  the  day  would  come  when 


206  The  World's  Conquest. 

the  millions  outside  of  the  city  would  be  reached  through  the  instrumen- 
tality of  medical  missions.  Now,  we  find  that  to-da}'  750,000  patients 
are  annually  being  treated  in  China.  One  hundred  and  thirty  medical 
missionaries,  men  and  women,  are  engaged  in  the  Chinese  Empire,  with 
one  hundi-ed  trained  assistants.  So  God  has  wonderfully  fulfilled  that 
desire  of  the  man  of  God.  He  was  followed  by  Rev.  A.  P.  Happer, 
M.D.,  in  1844,  and  by  Dr.  J.  G.  Kerr,  in  1854. 

Under  Dr.  Kerr's  care,  a  million  patients  have  come  and  received 
medical  aid  during  the  past  forty  years.  He  has  trained  a  hundred 
students,  and  has  performed  thirty-six  thousand  operations.  He  has 
performed  more  operations  for  calculus  than  any  living  man  but  one. 
He  has  also  translated  several  medical  works.  If  only  that  one  man 
had  been  sent  by  the  Presbyterian  Church  it  would  be  worth  the  while. 
Dr.  Mackenzie,  of  Tien-tsin,  was  made  the  instrumentality  of  bring- 
ing more  souls  to  Christ  in  one  year  than  all  the  other  members  of 
yAthe  mission  put  together.      What  is  the  need  of  China  to-day?     A 

ilai'ger  staff  of  medical  missionaries  proportionately.  In  New  York 
City  alone  there  are  three  thousand  physicians,  not  counting  Jersey 
City  and  Brooklyn ;  and  we  have  only  one  hundred  and  thirty  in  all 
China  —  equal  to  one  medical  missionary  having  charge  of  the  State 
of  Michigan  ! 

Chinese  physicians  are  very  ignorant.  They  are  not  even  aware  of 
the  circulation  of  the  blood,  are  not  able  to  lance  an  abscess  nor  reduce 
fractures.  Fractures  are  left  to  unite  at  various  angles,  and  then  have 
to  be  broken  and  reset.  I  know  that  human  flesh  has  been  used  for 
the  treatment  of  consumption.  It  has  even  been  published  in  Pekin, 
and  certain  parties  highly  commended  for  having  sacrificed  some  por- 
tion of  their  body  for  a  friend. 

China  has  a  need  of  physicians  because  of  the  prevalence  of  ma- 
lignant and  epidemic  diseases.  Each  case  of  smallpox  creates  a  new 
center  from  which  the  disease  will  spread.  Dr.  Pearson,  an  English 
physician,  introduced  vaccination  into  China.  Asiatic  cholera  and 
typhus  fever  prevail,  and  the  people  know  not  how  to  cope  with  them. 
There  is  no  quarantine.  The  Scriptures,  especially  the  old  Scriptures, 
are  full  of  measures  for  the  prevention  of  disease ;  but  they  know 
nothing  of  them.  It  is  to  the  medical  missionaries  alone  that  we  can 
look  to  stamp  oiit  these  epidemics,  which  are  a  menace  to  our  own 
land.  Leprosy  and  beri  beri,  a  disease  not  until  recently  much  under- 
stood, is  very  prevalent.  At  our  hospital  we  treated  numbers  of  cases, 
many  times  supposing  it  to  be  a  phase  of  lead  poisoning. /'it  was  found 
to  be  also  prevalent  in  Japan,  and  having  a  mortality  of  thirty  per  cent, 
when  endemic.  ^ 

Then,  as  to  the  social  diseases  of  China,  the  clerical  missionary 
looks  to  the  medical  missionary  to  create  a  sentiment  against  them.     I 


The  World's  Conquest.  207 

shall  not  speak  of  these,  except  that  of  infanticide,  which  is  very  preva- 
lent. One  woman  was  heard  to  say  to  another,  "  I  killed  three  chil- 
dren," and  her  companion  had  disposed  of  five,  making  eight  children 
killed  by  two  women.  The  sons  and  daughters,  when  known  to  the 
medical  man,  can  be  influenced.  Other  sins  and  crimes  there  are  known 
only  to  the  physician,  which  can  only  be  stamped  out  by  the  Gospel. 
No  one  can  enter  the  home  so  readily  as  a  woman ;  and  so  the  woman 
who  is  devoted  to  that  form  of  work  is  better  qualified  than  a  man. 
She  can  go  everywhere,  man  cannot. 

A  medical  missionary  stands  upon  a  corner  and  gives  out  some  medi- 
cines for  fever.  He  opens  store  in  a  tea  shop.  Preaching  begins.  An 
anchorage  is  made.  A  church  is  built  up ;  and  so  the  work  opens.  It 
is  only  wise  that  every  missionary  society  have  a  medical  man  and 
woman  located  near  a  central  station.  This  gives  an  opportunity  for 
presenting  Christianity  in  the  concrete,  which  is  heartily  appreciated 
by  the  people.  Medical  missionaries  should  be  soul  winners.  May 
I  not  cite  to  you  Kenneth  Mackenzie,  who,  nearly  always,  knelt  down 
at  the  bedside  of  his  patients  after  giving  his  medicines.  No  man 
gets  closer  to  a  sick  Chinaman  than  the  medical  man  who  goes  filled 
with  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ.  // 

Rev.  J.  Hudson  Taylor,  M.  R.  C.  S.,  said  :  — 

The  dark  places  of  the  earth  are,  indeed,  the  habitations  of  cruelty 
and  of  sin  —  the  two  are  necessarily  connected  together.  I  have  seen 
a  good  deal  of  medical  missionaries,  and  I  value  them  deeply.  We 
have  very  few ;  I  wish  Ave  had  more.  If  you  mean  to  be  a  medical 
missionary,  be  thorough.  If  you  intend  to  be  a  medical  man,  be  the 
best  medical  man.  Do  good  Avork  during  student  days.  It  is  not 
always  easy ;  j^ou  will  find  yourself  in  a  difficult  place.  If  it  does  not 
need  skill  to  practice  in  China,  where  is  it  needed?     Study  honestly. 

Now,  I  want  to  emphasize  the  other  side.  NcA^er  become  merely 
medical  men.  First,  be  missionaries,  then  be  medical  missionaries. 
The  influence  of  your  Christian  life  will  tell  immensely.  The  power  of 
your  medical  missionary  life  is  very  great  indeed,  and  the  work  you 
will  engage  in  will  go  A'ery  much  farther  than  you  can  gauge  it.  I 
have  seen  very  much  soul-Avinning  done  in  connection  with  medical 
missions. 

Some  years  ago  a  medical  friend  in  China  was  in  trouble.  I  Avas 
itinerating  in  the  villages  near  the  city  of  Ningpo.  The  question  was 
asked  me,  "  Will  you  carry  on  the  dispensary  during  my  absence  ? " 
Patients  were  coming  to  this  place  over  two  hundred  miles  to  my 
knowledge.  If  one  should  come,  and  be  disappointed  because  the 
hospital  Avas  closed,  it  might  take  years  for  the  loss  of  influence  to 


208  The  World's  Conquest. 

be  regained.  After  days  of  prayer  I  was  led  to  say,  "  I  will  keep  the 
dispensary  and  hospital  open  while  you  are  absent."  My  friend  was 
engaged  in  the  foreign  practice  of  the  port.  There  was  no  other  med- 
ical man  there.  He  built  a  hospital  with  the  fees  he  took  for  medical 
work,  and  carried  it  on  at  his  own  expense.  My  society  was  not  in  a 
very  good  position  in  regard  to  funds.  I  had  retired  from  it  on  a  point 
of  conscience,  and  I  was  very  awkwardly  placed  at  this  time.  I  could 
neither  borrow  anything  myself,  nor  could  I  draw  my  salary,  knowing 
the  money  was  borrowed.  "  What  about  the  funds  to  carry  on  the 
dispensary  with  ?  "  was  the  question.  If  I  wrote  to  my  friends  it  would 
take  two  months  to  reach  England,  and  if  the  money  was  sent  out  im- 
mediately it  would  take  two  months  more  to  reach  me.  I  jirayed  over 
the  matter,  and  felt  that  it  was  for  the  glory  of  God  that  this  medical 
work  should  go  on  uninterruptedly,  and  I  had  no  doubt  that  He  would 
give  the  needed  funds. 

There  was  the  wonderful  promise  :  "  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  my 
name,  that  will  I  do,  that  the  Father  may  be  glorified  in  the  Son."  If 
it  could  be  proved  that  that  text  meant  nothing,  I  would  never  preach 
again.     But  the  promise  was  kept. 

I  prayed  for  the  necessary  funds  to  carry  on  the  hospital.  My 
friend  said,  "Well,  you  can  pray,  and  when  the  money  comes  to  an  end, 
you  can  close  the  hospital."  It  never  came  to  an  end,  but  it  came  very 
near  it  one  day,  I  can  tell  you. 

The  cook  told  me  one  morning  that  the  last  bag  of  rice  was  nearly 
gone,  and  that  there  was  only  enough  for  dinner  and  supper.  "  Well, 
the  help  must  be  nigh,  then,  if  I  have  got  to  that  jjoint."  That  morn- 
ing we  received  a  letter  from  a  gentleman  in  England.  This  was  the 
purport  of  the  letter :  "  My  father  has  been  called  home,  and  I  have 
received  a  large  accession  of  wealth.  I  hold  myself  as  God's  steward 
for  the  means  which  He  has  placed  in  my  hands.  In  the  meantime  it 
occurs  to  me  that  in  China  you  may  know  of  some  one's  having  a  per- 
sonal need,  or  you  may  need  funds  yourself ;  hence  I  send  you  a  check 
for  £50."     It  gave  me,  I  assure  you,  very  great  pleasure. 

I  called  my  native  Christian  workers,  and  read  that  letter  to  them 
as  literally  as  I  could  ;  and  if  you  had  been  there  you  would  not  have 
thought  that  the  Chinese  are  stolid.  They  were  as  demonstrative  as 
the  Salvation  Army.  I  said  to  them :  "  Now,  look  here,  the  friends  in 
England  know  nothing  of  our  needs.  God  has  sent  the  money  through 
a  gentleman  who  has  more  money  than  he  knows  what  to  do  with,  and 
it  has  come  just  at  supper  time." 

Forty-eight  persons  gave  in  their  names  for  baptism  while  I  was  in 
Ningpo  in  nine  months.  Some  of  them,  I  am  thankful  to  say,  are 
living  to-day,  having  become  Christian  workers  —  working  for  God  — 
and  others  have  gone  home.     Oh,  as  I  look  over  then-  Avork,  I  see  that 


The   World's  Conquest.  209 

it  was  the  work  of  God.  While  you  need  all  the  skill  that  you  can 
obtain,  and  must  not  be  easily  discouraged,  it  is  the  Holy  Spirit  that  is 
necessary  for  conversion.  I  am  satisfied  that  the  true  medical  mis- 
sionary will  have  a  large  number  of  souls  for  the  Lord. 

But,  my  dear  friends,  if  you  are  going  to  be  medical  missionaries, 
be  thorough.  Learn  all  you  can.  Get  all  the  skill  3^ou  can.  Think 
no  labor  too  great,  but  withal  see  that  the  spiritual  consideration  does 
not  take  second  place.  Don't  allow  your  medical  study  or  work  to 
come  between  you  and  God.  It  is  so  easy ;  I  have  had  man}-  a  sad  and 
painful  experience.  The  first  thing  is  to  care  for  one's  own  soul,  and 
then  for  others.  If  we  are  walking  in  the  Spirit,  then  things  that  would 
otherwise  chafe  and  fret  you,  become  even  interesting  if  borne  for  the 
Master.  May  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  send  forth  many  more  medical 
missionaries  to  the  poor  people  of  China. 

A  medical  missionary  has  a  good  deal  to  do  in  China  that  he  would 
not  do  here.  You  have  to  do  yom-  own  bandaging  until  you  have 
trained  some  one  to  do  it  for  you.  I  found  in  my  hospital  that  I  could 
not  trust  my  nurses  to  do  the  night  work  well,  and  I  was  often  do^oi 
at  midnight  to  see  it  done  for  myself.  In  looking  at  the  skilled  assist- 
ants and  appliances  of  some  hospitals,  one  is  inclined  to  be  envious,  but 
if  you  look  only  to  the  Lord  it  takes  the  chafe  out  of  your  life.  The 
spirit  in  which  you  do  things  affects  others  around  you.  If  there  is  a 
chafe  in  your  own  spirit  they  will  notice  it. 

We  ought  always  to  have  a  tell-tale  face,  sajdng  that  it  is  joy  to 
serve  the  Lord.  This  is  the  j^rivilege  of  each  one  of  us,  to  have  such 
joy  that  life  becomes  living  in  the  most  emphatic  sense.  Let  me  urge 
you  to  be  men  of  God  first,  and  then  be  medical  missionaries ;  and  in 
whatever  land  God  sends  you,  j'ou  will  be  blessed  in  His  service.  Soon 
we  shall  see  the  marks  in  His  hands  and  hear  that  voice  say,  "  Well 
done,  good  and  faithful  servant."  That  will  repay  you  for  whatever 
you  have  done.  It  may  be  costly  service.  It  is  our  privilege  to  have 
fellowship  in  suffering.  Heathen  homes  are  open  to  you,  and  circum- 
stances are  open  to  you  in  a  way  that  they  are  not  to  others.  You  will 
see  difficulties  and  tibials  that  you  cannot  relieve,  and  if  you  have  not 
indeed  the  heart  of  Jesus  your  sympathy  is  vain.  Our  medical  work 
should  stir  us  to  cultivate  tenderness.  "  He  that  goeth  forth  and  weep- 
eth,  bearing  precious  seed,  shall  doubtless  come  again  with  rejoicing, 
bringing  his  sheaves  with  him." 

I  remember  a  little  incident  that  took  place  during  my  own  medical 
training  in  London  :  I  was  called  to  attend  a  patient  suffering  from 
gangrene  of  the  leg.  I  knew  that  before  very  long  he  would  be  in  the 
presence  of  his  Master.  He  was  an  atheist,  and  had  a  bitter  hatred  of 
the  Truth.  They  had  done  what  they  could  to  get  help  for  him.  They 
had  sent  for  the  vicar,  but  he  had  spat  in  his  face,  and  ordered  him  out 


210  The  World's  Conquest. 

of  the  room.  Others  he  had  driven  away  with  oaths  and  curses.  Dur- 
ing the  first  two  or  three  days  I  did  not  say  anything  to  him  about  liis 
soul.  I  took  special  pains,  however,  in  dressing  the  leg  three  times  a 
day.  I  was  able  to  relieve  him  of  a  good  deal  of  suffering.  The  leg 
was  so  tender  that  it  required  great  patience  to  dress  it  without  pain. 
On  the  third  day  he  thanked  me  very  warmly  because  he  had  been 
saved  such  suffering.  I  said,  "Do  you  know  why  I  come  so  fre- 
quently?" It  was  a  very  disagreeable  case  —  disinfectants  were  not 
then  in  use.  "  It  is  because  I  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  has  saved 
my  soul,  and  is  ready  to  save  yours."  The  man  bit  his  lip,  seemingly 
to  prevent  himself  from  cursing  me,  and  turned  over  and  hid  his  face 
in  the  pillow.  From  that  time  I  never  failed  to  say  a  few  words  about 
his  soul.  He  was  evidently  grateful  for  the  attention  he  had,  and  that 
restrained  him.  One  day,  after  washing  my  hands,  I  thought,  "He  is 
Ephraim,"  and  "is  joined  to  his  idols;  let  him  alone."  Biit  immediately 
the  thought  came  that,  while  God  might  say  so,  had  I  the  right  to  say 
so  ?  I  had  my  hand  on  the  knob  of  the  door.  I  turned  back  and  said 
with  tenderness,  "  Whether  you  will  bear  or  forbear,  I  must  deliver  my 
soul ;  and  I  am  really  in  earnest  and  anxious  for  you."  I  then  asked 
him  to  let  me  pray  for  him.  He  was  quite  surj^rised.  "If  it  will  be 
any  relief  to  you,  do  so,"  he  said.  I  threw  myself  on  my  knees  and 
poured  out  my  soul  with  tears.  God  graciously  heard  that  prayer. 
Within  a  day  or  two  he  was  a  changed  man.  He  afterwards  said  to 
me,  "For  forty  years  I  have  not  been  inside  a  church,  except  the 
time  I  was  married." 

I  remember  my  dear  friend.  Dr.  Robert  Kalley,  who  went  to  Ma- 
deira many  years  ago,  was  so  blessed  that  eleven  hundred  left  their 
island  for  conscience'  sake.  Some  of  the  others  were  put  to  death  for 
Christ.  I  never  heard  anything  more  thrillingly  interesting  than  that 
work  in  Madeira,  and  his  subseqiient  work  iu  Brazil.  In  Madeira  they 
used  to  meet  together  at  night,  and  read  the  Word.  They  were  terri- 
bly persecuted.  They  read  the  words,  "  Flee  to  another  city !  "  But 
there  was  only  one  city  on  the  island.  They  said,  "  Will  God  take  us 
across  the  sea  ?  He  says  flee,  and  we  have  got  to  flee."  Five  hundred 
of  them  went  down  to  the  beach  like  the  children  of  Israel.  Won- 
derful to  relate,  three  ships  came  sailing  into  the  harbor,  and  five  hun- 
dred men  all  got  passage,  and  were  taken  to  Trinidad,  and  afterward 
came  to  this  country.  That  was  a  very  remarkable  work.  My  last 
word  to  you  is,  be  tn\l  of  the  Word  of  God  and  the  Spirit  of  God,  as 
well  as  medical  skill. 

The  Chairman  said  :  — 

What  is  our  responsibility  to  our  fellow  students  of  this  land? 
Over  twenty  thousand  are  studying  in  this  land  to-day.     Where  shall 


The  World's  Conquest.  211 

they  practice  ?     There  [pointing  to  chart  of  the  United  States]  ?     Or 
over  yonder  [pointing  to  chart  of  China]  ? 

Dr.  Dowkontt  said  :  — 

My  dear  young  men,  I  have  been  very  much  moved  while  looking 
into  your  faces,  and  now  realize  the  responsibility  that  comes  upon  me, 
and  the  privilege  —  privilege  first,  and  responsibility  second. 

I  want  to  tell  you  of  a  vessel  which  was  steaming  across  the  ocean 
pleasantly,  when  those  on  board  observed  a  wreck.  Drawing  near  to 
it,  a  boat  was  lowered,  and  a  search  made  on  board  the  wreck,  when 
one  poor  fellow  only  was  discovered,  apparently  dead.  He  was  carried 
to  the  boat,  thence  to  the  steamer,  and,  after  being  attended  to  by  the 
doctor,  he  soon  opened  his  eyes,  and  looked  around.  He  tried  to 
speak,  but  could  not  be  heard  at  first.  Presently  they  caught  three 
words,  spoken  in  a  hoarse  whisjDer,  "  There's  another  man."  It  was 
enough ;  the  boat  was  again  lowered,  and,  to  the  joy  of  all,  especially 
of  his  shipmate,  the  other  man  was  saved  also.  The  first  and  best 
evidence  of  returning  life  in  the  first  man  was  his  thought  for  the 
"  other  man."  We  are  met  as  Chi'istians  to  think  of  "the  other  man." 
How  best  to  reach  him  and  save  him,  that  is  the  qiiestion  for  us  to 
consider. 

But  I  come  to  speak  more  precisely  of  medical  mission  work,  and 
I  ask  you  to  consider  particularly  four  points  regarding  it.  First, 
Christ  commands  it.  Second,  sympathy  demands  it.  Thii'd,  wisdom 
dictates  it.  Fourth,  experience  has  proven  its  value.  Christ  com- 
mands it  all  through  His  life  and  teachings.  You  see  it  everywhere. 
He  never  sent  one  disciple  out  to  preach  and  not  heal.  Second,  sym- 
pathy alone  demands  that  we  do  what  we  can  for  these  poor  sufferers, 
even  though  we  may  not  be  siire  of  their  conversion.  Not  only  is  it 
warranted  upon  merely  humanitarian  grounds,  but  we  are  verily  guilty 
of  the  results  accruing  from  our  neglect  to  do  all  we  can  to  cure  dis- 
ease, relieve  pain,  and  save  life. 

Wisdom  dictates  that  we  use  this  means  if  we  wish  to  succeed  in  the 
Gospel  ministry.  It  is  simply  foolish  to  try  to  get  people  to  think  of 
the  joys  or  penalties  of  a  future  state,  when  we  ignore  their  present 
very  tangible  and  real  needs  and  sufferings. 

Experience  has  demonstrated,  over  and  over  again,  that  when  men 
and  women  have  gone  to  theii*  suffering  fellows  at  home  or  abroad,  as 
Christ  did  and  commanded  us  to  do,  hearts  and  homes  are  all  open,  and 
ears  attuned  to  listen  to  the  news  of  "  a  better  country." 

One  of  the  g-reatest  arguments  in  favor  of  medical  missions  is  the 
fact  that  so  many  missionaries  who  have  gone  out  without  medical 
knowledge  have  returned  to  get  it.     And  no  wonder.     When  their 


212  The  World's  Conquest. 

eyes  have  looked  upon  these  multitudes  of  sufferers  with  not  only  no 
knowledge  of  "  The  Balm  of  Gilead,"  but  with  "  no  physician  there  " 
for  the  poor  diseased  body,  their  hearts  have  bled  for  them,  their  eyes 
have  filled  with  tears,  and  their  lips  with  prayers :  "  Oh  that  I  could 
help  them!  Oh  that  I  had  medical  knowledge !  "  Then,  as  soon  as 
they  could,  they  have  returned  home,  studied  medicine,  and  gone  back. 
This  has  occurred  in  the  experience  of  many  missionaries. 

Our  Opportunity  among  Medical  Students. 

The  Chairman  said  :  — 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  incidents  in  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ  was 
that  which  occurred  when,  in  the  early  part  of  His  public  ministry.  He 
paid  a  visit  to  his  old  home,  Nazareth :  "  And  He  entered,  as  His  cus- 
tom was,  into  the  synagogue  on  the  Sabbath  day,  and  stood  up  to  read. 
And  there  was  delivered  unto  Him  the  book  of  the  prophet  Isaiah. 
And  He  opened  the  book,  and  found  the  place  where  it  was  wiitten, 

The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me. 

Because  He  anointed  me  to  preach  good  tidings  to  the  poor : 

He  hath  sent  me  to  proclaim  release  to  the  captives. 

And  recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind. 

To  set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised, 

To  proclaim  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord. 
And  He  closed  the  book,  and  gave  it  back  to  the  attendant,  and  sat 
down,"  having  made  the  wonderful  announcement  that  He,  Jesus,  had 
been  sent  in  fulfillment  of  this  prophecy,  to  heal  the  bodies  and  to 
save  the  souls  of  suffering  men.  But  how  sad  was  the  ending  of  this 
beautiful  scene ;  they  ridiculed  Him,  they  became  angry,  even  enraged 
at  Him,  and  when  He  stated  some  very  plain  facts  to  them  they  sought 
to  cast  Him  headlong  over  the  brow  of  a  hill  and  so  destroy  the 
Saviour  of  the  world. 

About  a  hundred  years  ago  a  young  cobbler  in  England  became 
deeply  impressed  that  the  Church  was  not  doing  what  it  should  to  com- 
plete the  work  begun  and  committed  to  it  by  Jesus  Christ.  He  went  to 
a  prominent  divine  to  lay  the  matter  before  him,  and  was  sent  away 
■with  the  words,  "  Young  man,  if  God  wants  to  convert  the  heathen  he 
can  do  it  without  your  interference."  No  one  would  think  of  saying 
that  this  minister  was  not  an  earnest,  faithful,  consecrated  servant  of 
Christ,  but  for  some  reason  his  eyes  had  not  been  opened  to  the  truth 
in  this  matter.  The  past  century  has  proved  most  conclusive!}^  that 
William  Carey  was  right  and  the  minister  "\ATong.  We  can  see  the 
same  thing  to-day.  We  are  filled  with  wonder  that  the  Church  could 
exist  for  eighteen  centuries  without  realizing  what  Christ  really  meant 


The  World's  Conquest.  213 

when  he  gave  the  command  to  "  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature." 
But  is  it  not  even  more  wonderful  that  a  whole  century  of  acti^^e  mis- 
sionary effort  has  passed,  and  still  the  Church  seems  to  be  blind  to  the 
Christ-like  method  of  carrying  on  this  great  work.  When  those  whose 
eyes  God  has  opened,  and  whose  hearts  He  has  fired  with  zeal  for 
medical  missions,  press  the  claims  of  this  work,  they  sometimes  meet 
with  rebuffs  from  men  of  most  undoubted  consecration  and  piety  and 
godliness,  even  at  the  end  of  this  marvellous  century  of  missions, 
and  notwithstanding  the  plain  example  and  positive  teaching  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

The  heathen  world  is  not  different  from  what  it  was  in  the  time 
of  Christ.  There  is  the  same  ignorance,  the  same  superstition,  the 
same  suffering,  the  same  need  for  help ;  and,  as  Dr.  Saunders  so  forci- 
bly says,  "  Amid  superstitions  the  most  gross,  idolatries  the  most  vile, 
and  ignorance  the  most  debasing,  sympathy  with  human  suffering  has 
again,  as  of  old,  proved  the  key  to  unlock  hearts  long  closed  by  preju- 
dice, bigotry,  or  ignorance,  against  the  truth." 

I  want  to  give  you  four  examples  of  the  ignorance,  superstition,  and 
misery  which  exist  to-day  in  heathen  lands.  These  are  not  stories 
that  I  have  read,  but,  Avith  one  exception,  facts  related  to  me  by  eye 
witnesses : 

First :  A  prominent  lady  in  India  was  seriously  ill.  A  male  phy- 
sician Avas  called  in.  He  said  that  he  would  have  to  count  her  pulse; 
whereupon,  a  string  was  tied  about  her  waist,  the  end  was  passed  down 
from  her  apartment  in  the  second  story  and  handed  to  the  physician, 
and  he  was  expected  to  be  able  to  count  the  pulse  in  this  way. 

Second  :  My  friend.  Dr.  San  Po,  a  native  of  Burma,  who  recently 
graduated  in  medicine  that  he  may  go  back  to  minister  to  his  own 
people,  told  me  that  on  one  occasion  his  father,  a  native  doctor,  was 
attending  a  child  of  two  years  who  was  suffering  from  dyspepsia,  and 
the  medicine  prescribed  was  roasted  crow,  to  be  eaten  daily  until  a 
cure  was  effected. 
/  Third :  Mr.  John  Anderson,  of  the  China  Inland  Mission,  tells  of 
a  boy  in  China  who  had  a  number  of  eruptive  sores  on  his  body.  The 
native  doctor  treated  him  by  applying  the  lighted  wick  of  a  lamp 
to  the  sores.  This  treatment  Avent  on  day  after  day  for  nearly  two 
months.  The  screams  of  the  boy  were  fearful.  At  last  he  was  brought 
to  the  mission  dispensary,  and  Avas  cured  in  a  few  days. 

Fourth :  In  Korea  the  hand  of  a  daughter  was  cut  off  and  stewed 
to  be  administered  to  a  dying  parent  at  the  command  of  the  native 
doctor  in  attendance. 

These  are  just  four  cases  taken  from  thousands ;  and  what  is  true 
of  India  and  Burma  and  China  and  Korea,  is  true  of  all  heathendom. 
Just  a  few  days  ago  Dr.  Dowkontt  called  my  attention  to  the  striking 


214  The  World's  Conquest. 

fact  that,  whether  we  go  to  Africa  or  Alaska,  or  China  or  Turkey,  or 
India  or  the  Islands  of  the  Sea,  we  find  the  same  ignorance,  supersti- 
tion, cruelty,  and  suffering,  and  the  same  need  for  healing  of  both 
body  and  soul. 

/What  have  we  done  to  meet  this  need  ?  The  chart  hanging  before 
you  answers  the  question.  Each  large  diagram  represents  2,500,000 
people ;  each  dot  represents  one  physician.  /In  China,  for  each  2,500- 
000  people,  vnth  all  their  suffering,  we  see  but  one  physician,  while  in 
the  United  States,  for  each  2,500,000  there  are  4,000  physicians. 
That  you  may  realize  this  number  more  fully,  I  will  mention  that  it 
took  Mr.  Leibert,  of  Bellevue  Medical  College,  a  day  and  a  half,  work- 
ing as  fast  as  he  could  with  a  rubber  stamj),  to  put  on  the  chart  the 
4,000  dots  which  represent  the  supply  of  physicians  in  the  United 
States  for  each  2,500,000  people,  while  we  send  only  one  physician  to 
the  same  number  in  heathen  lands.  "  Verily  I  say  unto  you.  Inasmuch 
as  ye  did  it  not  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it  not  unto  me." 

It  was  stated  yesterday,  in  a  section  conference,  that  New  York  City 
had  1,000  physicians  —  think  of  it,  1,000  physicians  for  one  city  of  less 
than  2,000,000  people!  But  the  supply  is  even  more  liberal  than  that. 
By  actual  count  of  names  in  the  directory,  I  find  that  there  are  3,500 
physicians  in  New  York  city :  3,500  physicians  to  less  than  2,000,000 
people,  while  to  2,500,000  in  dire  need  we  send  but  one.  Is  it  right? 
If  we  had  twelve  hospitals  and  twenty-five  physicians  in  the  entire 
United  States,  we  would  be  as  well  supplied  as  China  is  to-day.  If  we 
were  supplied  on  this  basis.  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Illinois,  Ohio, 
Massachusetts,  and  Texas  would  be  the  only  states  having  a  doctor 
exclusively  for  one  state.  Ten  Detroits  could  not  have  one,  and  Mich- 
igan would  be  obliged  to  share  her  physician  with  another  state. 

Let  me  put  it  another  way :  To  supply  China  one  one-hundredth  as 
well  as  we  are  supplied  woixld  require  5,338  physicians  in  addition  to 
the  jsresent  force,  and  to  supply  the  entire  foreign  field  in  the  same 
proportion  would  require  15,275.  ^ 

These  startling  facts  bring  us  face  to  face  with  a  twofold  problem : 

First:  What  shall  become  of  the  18,000  young  men  and  women 
now  studying  in  the  medical  colleges  of  the  United  States?  Shall 
they  locate  and  try  to  secure  a  practice  in  a  land  where  there  is  already 
one  physician  to  each  640  people,  or  shall  they  take  up  the  work  of 
Christ,  go  out  to  a  land  where  there  is  only  one  physician  to  each 
2,500,000  people,  and  there  heal  the  sick  and  preach  the  Gospel  ?  How 
can  we  reach  these  students  ?  How  can  we  enlist  them  in  this  work  ? 
The  problem  is  an  extremely  diflftcult  one,  for  the  reasons  already  given 
by  Mr.  Mott  in  the  report  just  read  to  you.  (1)  The  extreme  pres- 
sure of  work  in  medical  schools.  (2)  The  lack  of  Christian  organiza- 
tion.    (3)  The  non-Christian  character  of  a  majority  of  the  students. 


The  World's  Conquest.  215 

(4)  The  enforced  neglect  on  the  part  of  the  traveling  secretaries. 
The  secretarial  force  is  so  small,  and  the  number  of  institutions 
ali-eady  under  supervision  is  so  large,  that  it  is  simply  impossible  to 
open  lip  work  in  medical  schools  through  this  agency  until  the  force  is 
increased.     What  then  can  be  done? 

I  will  mention  a  few  lines  of  work  by  which  we  may  be  able  to 
reach  these  students.  I  only  have  time  to  give  headings.  Will  you 
make  note  of  them  and  think  them  out  for  yourselves  ? 

(1)  Band  work  :  (a)  Receptions  to  medical  students.  (If  there  is  a 
Volunteer  Band  in  the  college  or  theological  department  of  a  university 
which  has  a.  medical  department,  this  suggestion  applies.)  (b)  When 
a  Christian  man  leaves  your  college  to  go  to  a  medical  school,  rej^ort 
his  name  at  once  to  the  leader  of  Christian  work  in  the  institution  to 
which  he  goes,  or  to  the  secretary  of  the  city  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association. 

(2)  Work  among  and  by  the  professors  :  Interest  some  professor  in 
medical  missions,  and  secure  his  co-operation. 

(3)  Church  work :  Get  a  popular  preacher  to  give  a  sermon  on 
medical  missions,  and  send  out  special  invitations  to  medical  students. 

(4)  City  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  work :  Interest  the 
secretary  of  the  city  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  and  secure 
his  co-operation ;  he  can  help  by  receptions,  lectures,  and  special 
meetings  for  medical  students. 

(5)  Board  Secretaries  :  Try  to  have  a  special  meeting  for  medical 
men  when  they  are  visiting  the  college  town. 

(6)  Personal  work :  Talk  with  men  ;  tell  them  the  story  of  the 
need ;  convince  them  of  the  wonderful  opportunities  before  them ;  put 
the  best  possible  literature  on  the  subject  in  their  hands.  Right  here 
I  want  to  speak  of  the  little  book  mentioned  by  Mr.  Speer  Wednesday 
evening ;  it  is  the  very  latest  and  best  thing  to  be  had  on  medical  mis- 
sions. "Murdered  Millions  "  is  the  title.  It  is  written  and  published 
by  George  D.  Dowkontt,  M.  D.,  the  medical  director  of  the  Inter- 
national Medical  Missionary  Society. 

(7)  Prayer :  Oh,  pray,  dear  friends !  Pray  as  David  Brainerd 
prayed  ;  pray  as  Jesus  Christ  prayed  ;  pray  in  obedience  to  His  command, 
"  Pray  ye  therefore  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  that  He  send  forth  labor- 
ers into  His  harvest." 

The  second  part  of  the  problem  has  to  do  with  the  large  number 
of  young  men  and  women,  volunteers  for  foreign  service,  Avho  long  to 
go  out  as  medical  missionaries,  but  who  cannot  take  a  medical  course 
because  of  lack  of  means.  While  in  college,  a  student  can  tutor,  and 
while  in  a  theological  seminary  he  can  preach ;  in  these  ways  he  can 
earn  funds  to  help  meet  expenses ;  but  the  work  of  the  medical  course 
is  so  heavy  that  it   demands  every  moment  of  his  time,  leaving  no 


216  The  World's  Conquest. 

opportunities  to  work  for  funds.  Notwithstanding  these  facts,  colleges 
and  theological  seminaries  furnish  tuition  to  worthy  students  free  of 
charge ;  but  there  is  not  a  medical  institution  in  the  land  where  young 
men  and  women  can  be  educated  on  the  same  terms,  even  though  they 
purpose  to  give  their  entire  lives  to  service  on  the  foreign  field.  Last 
year  Dr.  Dowkontt  had  to  refuse  nine-tenths  of  the  one  hundred  and 
sixty  applicants  for  medical  training,  simply  on  account  of  the  lack  of 
funds  and  equipment. 

Five  hundred  thousand  dollars  are  needed  for  a  medical  mission- 
ary college.  Time  will  not  permit  me  to  give  the  details  of  the  pro- 
posed plan,  so  I  will  simply  refer  you  to  the  closing  chapter  of  the 
little  book  of  which  I  have  already  spoken.  Will  you  not  plead 
with  God  that  this  institution  may  be  founded,  and  that  young  men 
and  women  may  be  educated  and  trained  to  go  to  the  uttermost  part 
of  the  earth  to  preach  the  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom,  and  to  heal 
all  manner  of  sickness  and  all  manner  of  diseases  among  the  people, 
as  He  did,  for  His  dear  name's  sake  ? 

How   MAY    WB    Secure    Medical    Volunteers    for    Missionary 

Service  ? 

W.  Harley  Smith,  M.  D.,  Secretary  of  the  Canadian  Colleges  Mis- 
sion, said  :  — 

"  Prayer  and  pains  through  faith  in  Christ  will  do  anything,"  said 
John  Ellicott.  If  the  hundreds  of  volunteers  now  studying  in  our  col- 
leges were  more  earnestly  and  more  continually  in  prayer  to  God,  that 
He  would  send  forth  more  medical  laborers  into  His  great  harvest  field, 
and  if  their  praj^ers  were  reinforced  by  the  striving  in  prayer  of  the 
great  Mission  Boards  and  the  vast  army  of  church  woi'kers,  we  should 
not  have  to  wait  long  for  a  full  and  complete  answer  as  shown  in  a 
tremendous  awakening  of  willing  missionary  medical  workers. 

The  sad  and  regretable  fact  is  that  all  these  j^otential  praying  bodies 
have  been  spasmodic  and  infrequent  in  their  appeals  to  the  throne  of 
grace.  The  prayers  have  been  too  seldom  and  too  feebly  offered  to 
meet  with  a  powerful  answer  from  the  Almighty  Answerer  of  Prayer. 
The  sooner  we  learn  that  our  progress  and  success  in  this  medical  mis- 
sion work  is  in  exact  proportion  to  our  earnest  and  faithful  prayerful- 
ness,  the  sooner  will  the  awful  gaps  in  the  dark  places  of  the  earth  be 
occupied  by  willing  medical  servants,  and  our  faith  in  the  promises  of 
God,  and  in  the  readiness  and  willingness  of  God  to  answer  prayer, 
must  grow. 

"  According  to  your  faith,  be  it  unto  you,"  is  as  true  now  as  when  it 
was  uttered.     "  Lord,  we  believe ;  help  thou  our  unbelief."     "  But  let 


The  World's  Conquest.  217 

him  ask  in  faith,  nothing  doubting.  For  he  that  waveretli  is  like  a 
wave  of  the  sea,  driven  with  the  wind  and  tossed."  Taking  prayer 
and  faith  as  the  foundation  principles,  and  as  the  all-essential  penetrat- 
ing j)rinciijles  of  our  plans  of  action,  we  assert  that  medical  volunteers 
may  be  secured  through  three  main  agencies:  (1)  Boards  or  commit- 
tees, or  other  organizations  outside  of  colleges,  making  special  efforts 
to  stir  up  students.  (2)  The  students  now  in  our  colleges  who  are 
members  of  the  Student  Volunteer  Bands.  (3)  Faculties,  or  individual 
members  of  faculties,  who  are  Christian  and  "  missionary-hearted." 

The  power  which  organizations  such  as  our  Missionary  Boards  and 
the  International  Committee  possess,  of  securing  medical  volunteers,  is 
shown  in  this  great  gathering,  and  in  others  which  have  aroused  mis- 
sionary interest  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  These  missionary  conventions 
may  be  made  especially  helpful  by  holding  students'  sessions,  wherein 
may  be  set  forth  the  privilege  of  enlisting  in  this  service,  the  urgent 
need  of  additions  to  the  force  and  the  rich  rewards  —  spiritual  rewards 
—  to  be  won  in  foreign  medical  missions.  The  traveling  secretaries  of 
our  denominational  boards  and  of  our  Volunteer  3Iovement  accomplish 
much  by  special  visitations  of  colleges.  We  need  not  by  name  refer  to 
the  heroic  men  who  have,  during  the  past  few  years,  represented  the 
Student  Volunteer  Movement  as  traveling  secretaries.  The  large  num- 
bers of  students  who,  through  this  instrumentality,  have  been  led  to 
consecrate  their  lives  as  medical  missionaries  are  evidence  of  the  effec- 
tiveness of  this  Movement.  These  organizations  may  stir  up  mission- 
ary zeal,  moreover,  by  forcing  upon  the  attention  of  medical  students 
some  of  the  best  literature  on  this  subject,  influencing  individual  students 
to  discuss  it  or  bring  it  before  large  classes,  and  this  in  such  cheap  forms 
as  may  place  it  within  easy  reach  of  all.  There  is  a  deplorable  lack  of 
knowledge  of  the  great  mission  fields,  both  of  the  work  already  done 
and  the  grand  opportunities  now  025en  for  doing  the  very  best  work  — 
work  that  will  tell  for  man's  good  and  God's  glory.  Probably  the 
greatest  power  in  securing  medical  volunteers  lies  with  the  student  vol- 
unteers now  in  attendance  at  our  colleges.  How  few  of  these,  alas, 
show  the  missionary  zeal  that  should  possess  those  who  have  devoted 
theu-  lives  to  this  great  cause.  We  meet  them  day  after  day,  and  their 
words,  actions,  and  whole  life,  force  us  to  regard  them  as  Christian 
men,  it  is  true,  but  as  men  not  at  all  tired  Avith  an  all-pervading,  over- 
powering desire  and  willingness  to  win  over  their  fellow  students  to 
the  same  great  calling.  The}-  are  thus  missing  a  grand  chance  of  doing 
tremendously  effective  Christian  work.  They  are  making  the  sad  mis- 
take of  waiting  till  they  reach  the  foreign  field  in  order  to  show  their 
missionary  zeal  and  begin  active  mission  work.  It  is  now,  at  once,  at 
home,  that  the  student  volunteer  should  become  a  missionary. 


218  The  World's  Conquest. 

The  Band  meetings  may  prove  a  channel  for  influencing  others  to 
enlist  if  strenuous  and  continued  efforts  are  made  to  bring  non-volun- 
teers regularly  to  these  meetings.  Prayer  must  be  a  marked  feature 
of  these  meetings,  prayer  for  definite  fields  and  definite  needs.  The 
volunteers  should  hold  at  regular  intervals  open  missionary  meetings, 
with  strong  addresses  from  picked  students,  and  the  best  available  mis- 
sionaries, and  others  deeply  interested  in  missions.  On  such  occasions 
it  might  be  well  to  emphasize  some  j^articular  field,  rather  than  to  treat 
superficially  many  fields.  Here,  too,  make  it  a  point  to  bring  out 
forcibly  the  need  of  medical  missionaries, —  the  privileges  and  blessings 
of  the  work, —  and  to  make  a  strong  appeal  for  volunteers. 

As  with  the  outside  organizations,  so  with  the  Volunteer  Bands  : 
they  should  get  the  best  and  most  readable  literature  on  the  subject, 
and  distribute  it  carefully  and  systematically  among  their  fellows ;  not 
the  more  diffuse  and  extended  works,  but  such  as  the  student  volunteer 
pamphlets,  and  other  brief  and  concise  statements  and  apj^eals,  such  as 
medical  students  may  read  and  assimilate  without  encroaching  on  the 
time  for  their  medical  studies. 

If  personal  work  is  a  necessarj^  featui-e  of  oiir  general  spiritual  work 
in  colleges,  it  is  equally  so  in  our  missionary  department.  The  volun- 
teers should  be  pledged  to  make  special  efforts,  day  by  day,  to  win 
their  fellows  individually  to  give  themselves  up  to  missionary  work. 
As  in  all  things,  so  here,  the  greatest  tact  and  caution  are  to  be  exer- 
cised, and  success  must  depend  absolutely  on  a  close  communion  with 
God.  Every  man's  case  must  be  carried  to  the  Heavenly  Counsellor, 
and  guidance  sought  in  every  step  taken.  Whole  classes  can  be  gained 
by  this  Divinely  guided  personal  work,  some  of  them  to  be  leaders  of 
missionary  work  at  home,  the  leaders  of  oin-  missionary  committees 
and  boards ;  but  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  those  sought  out  indi- 
vidually and  receiving  a  missionary  training  at  college,  will  be  ever 
after  fired  with  missionary  zeal. 

Christian  Boards,  particularly  medical  faculties,  if  heartily  in  sym- 
patliy  with  mission  interests,  have  it  in  their  power  to  raise  iip  and  send 
out  hundreds  of  volunteers.  The  respect  which  they  receive  from  theii* 
classes,  the  confidence  placed  in  their  advice  and  counsel,  give  them  a 
power  for  good  or  evil  over  the  future  lives  of  our  medical  students 
which  carries  with  it  an  awful  responsibilit^^  Hence  it  should  be  one 
aim  of  the  Band  to  influence  faculties  and  arouse  and  increase  their 
interest  in  missions,  and  then  urge  them  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
splendid  opportunities  for  increasing  the  number  of  volunteers  in  their 
junior  and  graduating  classes. 

The  work  on  the  missionary  committee  is  a  jsractical  way  of  increas- 
ing one's  interest  in  and  sympathy  with  missions ;  not  that  we  are  to 
sacrifice  our  mission  work  and  its  success  by  placing  careless,  indifferent 


The  World's  Conquest.  219 

men,  on  our  committees,  in  the  hope  that  thus  we  may  induce  them 
to  vohinteer.  But,  if  we  are  careful  to  get  the  right  men,  we  may  thus, 
by  God's  help,  lead  them  on  from  a  state  of  unwillingness  to  go  abroad 
to  the  higher  state  of  self- surrender  and  willingness  to  be  used  wherever 
and  however  God  may  lead.  By  doing  work  on  missionary  committees, 
a  man's  knowledge  of  the  field  and  its  needs  must  be  developed ;  and 
if  he  be  at  all  teachable,  he  will  become  more  missionary  in  his  tastes 
and  affections. 

Undoubtedly  our  love  for  missionary  work  grows  with  our  more 
intimate  acquaintance  therewith.  Let  a  man  have  a  responsibility  in 
connection  with  some  missionary ;  let  him  read  more  and  more,  day  by 
day,  of  the  state  of  the  natives  in  Corea  or  some  other  dark  country ; 
let  his  mind  be  impressed  by  the  awful  dearth  of  medical  and  spiritual 
relief  for  the  millions  there, —  and  if  he  be  a  true  man,  his  missionary 
activity  cannot  remain  stagnant. 

When  on  the  foreign  field  the  volunteer  can,  by  oft-repeated  letters 
to  his  foi'mer  companions,  and  by  stirring  appeals  to  the  college  Asso- 
ciations, with  Christian  joy  dwelling  upon  the  blessedness  of  the  work 
he  has  chosen,  from  personal  contact  making  the  wants  of  the  field 
more  striking  and  impressive  —  he  can  thus  still  spread  a  leavening 
influence  through  the  succeeding  classes  of  his  college. 

Permeating  all  these  methods  and  efforts,  whether  through  denom- 
inational or  pan-denominational  Boards,  through  our  Volunteer  Bands, 
or  through  our  faculties,  prayer  and  faith  must  ever  be  increasing ;  we 
must,  hour  by  hour,  seek  the  help  and  guidance  of  the  Father,  with 
childlike  trustfulness  holding  His  hand. 


CONFERENCE  OF  WOMAN'S  WORK. 

Friday  ArxERNOON,  March  2,  1894. 
Mrs.  L.  D.  Wishard,  Chairman. 

Women  in  Medical  Missionary  Work. 

Dr.  Pauline  Root,  of  Madura,  South  India,  said :  — 

In  introducing  the  subject,  "  Women  in  Medical  Work  in  Foreign 
Missionary  Lands,"  we  take  it  for  granted  that  any  woman  entering  into 
this  work  does  so  from  religious  or  philanthropic  motives,  and  not 
simply  as  a  money-making  enterprise.  One  need  not  go  abroad  imder 
a  missionary  society  to  do  good  medical  work,  but  a  cold,  materialistic, 
bitter,  sarcastic  or  selfish  woman  could  hardly  win  the  hearts  of  our 
reserved  Eastern  women,  however  clever  she  might  be  as  a  doctor. 
Love  for  God  and  for  women  must  needs  be  her  passport :  with  it  she 
will  find  a  ready  entrance  into  homes  and  hearts,  whether  working  at  her 
own  charges  or  under  the  direction  of  a  missionary  society.  You  who 
are  here  to-day  testify  by  your  presence  that  the  medical  work  means 
more  to  you  than  the  simple  healing  of  the  body. 

It  means  that  you  long  for  the  simplicity  of  Christ ;  that  you  desire 
to  be  as  He  was  in  the  world,  and  to  walk  as  He  walked,  healing  the 
sick  and  preaching  glad  tidings  to  sin-sick  and  weary  souls.  You  be- 
lieve in  medical  missionary  work,  and  probably  more  than  a  few  here 
have  definitely  decided,  if  God  will,  to  enter  into  it.  You  will  hear  in 
many  ways,  and  more  than  once  during  this  Convention,  of  the  neglect 
and  loneliness,  the  degradation,  and  malpractice  which  Eastern  women 
endure  in  sickness  and  sorrow ;  and  so  we  need  not  enter  in  detail 
into  the  reasons  why  you,  refined,  educated,  cultured  women,  are 
needed  as  physicians  in  the  far  East. 

Of  one  thing  I  wish  to  warn  you.  Each  one  who  speaks  to  you 
will  speak  as  she  has  seen  or  as  she  has  been  told ;  and  though  I  could 
l^robably  paint  from  observation  as  horribly  sad  pictures  as  any  who 


The  World's  Conquest.  221 

may  speak,  I  prefer  to  eradicate  from  your  minds  the  thought  —  if  you 
have  it  —  that  all  is  sordid,  cruel,  and  vile.  One  should,  if  she  goes  to 
a  foreign  land,  go  wnth  Christlike  charity,  and  meekness,  with  no  feel- 
ing of  personal  superiority  and  scorn  because  others'  ways  are  not  as 
her  ways.  Our  women  are  not  all  down-trodden,  not  all  laborers  in 
the  fields,  not  all  the  subject  of  men's  passions,  not  all  miserable. 
Many,  yes  thousands,  are  lovable,  cheery,  and  happy.  Though  they 
are  shy,  reserved,  and  too  courteous  to  express  annoyance,  your  influ- 
ence with  them  will  be  crippled  if  you  show  pity,  aversion,  or  con- 
tempt, for  what  you  may  think  indignities  and  cruel  neglect.  "Be  not 
wise  in  your  own  conceits."  Withal,  I  trulj^  believe  that  they  need  us. 
In  most  n  on -Christian  lands  the  better  class  of  women  lead  secluded 
lives.  The  Cooly  and  lower  classes  are  permitted  to  go  freely  about 
the  streets,  and  they  are  the  workers  in  the  fields,  the  carriers  of  bur- 
dens, and  those  on  whom  menial  tasks  devolve.  These  women,  if  they 
come  under  Christian  influence,  may  receive  an  education,  and  may 
perhaps  be  trained  as  nurses,  but  as  a  rule  they  have  not,  as  we  say, 
"  the  brains  "  to  enter  into  responsible  medical  work.  According  to 
the  customs  and  etiquette  of  Eastern  lands,  the  woman  who  is  a  lady, 
who  is  sheltered  and  secluded  in  her  home,  could  have  as  a  rule  no 
opportunity  to  receive  the  education  which  would  fit  her  to  enter  the 
medical  profession ;  nor  would  it  be  considered  a  desirable  or  even 
proper  thing  for  her  to  do.  At  the  present  daj^  there  are  in  India  and 
China  (and  probably  in  other  lands  of  w^hich  I  know  less)  educated  and 
refined  young  women  from  the  upper  classes  who  are  studying  medi- 
cine, and  some  who  have  become  practicing  physicians  and  surgeons, 
but  the  number  is  small.  Consequently,  in  most  houses,  sick  women  — 
even  those  educated  and  accomplished  —  are  attended  only  by  those 
who  by  tradition  and  practice  are  the  women  doctors  of  the  coimtry. 
Some  may  be  skillful ;  my  experience  has  usually  been  that  their 
methods  are  exceedingly  crude  and  harmful. 

A  Brahmin  lady,  gentle  and  retmng  as  she  is  by  nature,  would 
shrink  from  receiving  a  man  as  her  doctor,  and,  as  a  rule  no  man  would 
be  invited  to  attend  her.  In  her  confinement,  she  would  not,  in  South 
India  at  least,  be  allowed  to  be  helped  by  him,  nor  would  she  wash  it. 
And  so  philanthropy  alone  would  impel  us  to  take  to  these,  our  sisters, 
some  of  the  cheer,  the  comfort,  and  the  tender  lo\ang  kindness  which 
are  so  freely  bestowed  upon  us  in  our  illnesses.  We  must  not  forget 
that  though  these  women  live  in  adobe  houses,  sleep  upon  clay  floors,  and 
have  none  of  the  fi-eedom  accorded  to  us,  such  conditions  do  not  neces- 
sarily imply  lack  of  refinement.  If  we  go  to  them  we  must  go  as  ladies. 
They  have  their  own  standards  of  propriety,  which  we  must  not  reck- 
lessly ignore.  If  we  wish  them  to  admire  our  customs  we  must  show 
ourselves  admirable,  and  prove  to  them  that  to  walk  with  unveiled  face, 


222  The  World's  Conquest. 

to  meet  and  talk  with  men  on  equal  terms,  to  eat  with  all  classes,  to 
drive  about,  to  read  what  we  choose,  to  write,  to  sing,  to  play  on  social 
occasions,  is  not  to  make  ourselves  coarse,  loiid,  or  wicked,  but  that  it 
gives  us  an  honorable  and  admired  place  even  in  their  own  community. 
They  will  be  courteous  to  you.  It  depends  upon  your  tact  and  adapta- 
bility whether  they  respect  your  life  or  despise  it.  But  the  latter  must 
not  happen.  One  of  the  saddest  things  I  know,  and  of  incalculable 
harm,  is  for  a  Christian  doctor  to  so  underrate  the  dignity  of  her  calling 
as  to  bring  contempt,  not  only  on  her  profession,  but  on  her  Christian 
character.  This  requires  a  care  and  circumspection  exceeding  that  de- 
manded among  one's  own  people,  "  Let  not  your  good  be  evil  sj^oken 
of."  Do  our  medical  women  come  closer  to  the  people  than  other 
missionaries?  That  depends.  A  mother  heart  doubtless  can  best 
understand  the  mother  heart  the  world  over ;  and  it  is  very  true  that 
some  of  our  unmarried  evangeUcal  workers  come  into  very  deep  sym- 
pathy and  understanding  with  our  young  women.  But  no  one  has 
such  opportunities  of  coming  close  to  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  the 
women  of  Eastern  lands  as  she  who  in  their  hours  of  pain  and  weak- 
ness, of  terror  and  anguish,  carries  comfort  and  healing  for  their  bodies, 
and  loving,  wise  sympathy  to  their  spirits. 

What  is  such  a  woman's  work?  Just  the  same,  in  a  way,  as  a 
doctor's  here.  She  must  be  brave  always,  and  strong  for  those  who 
are  weak ;  skillful  for  those  who  are  ignorant ;  a  stimulant  and  tonic 
to  those  who  are  mentally  and  morally  enervated ;  firm  and  righteously 
indignant  with  those  who  continue  in  sin,  and  whose  diseases  are  the 
result  of  sin ;  Christlike  in  tender  sympathy  with  those  who,  according 
to  our  standards,  are  sinners,  but  who  may,  through  patient  and  loving 
effort,  be  won  to  a  noble  womanhood.  She  must  show  repulsion  and 
contempt  towards  none,  shrink  from  no  contagion,  fear  neither  disease 
nor  death.  Any  woman  gracious  in  manner,  cheerful,  well-educated, 
refined,  and  with  the  love  of  God  in  her  heart,  will  find  great  rewards 
in  this  work.  Her  friends  may  say  she  lays  down  her  life  ;  her  college 
mates  may  ask,  "  to  what  end  is  this  waste  ?  "  but  in  loving  apprecia- 
tion and  esteem  she  will  gain  an  hundredfold,  if  she  walks  "  worthy 
of  the  Lord  unto  all  pleasing,  being  fruitful  in  every  good  work,  and 
increasing  in  the  knowledge  of  God."  And  realizing,  as  perhaps  only 
those  can  who  are  surrounded  by  superstition  and  heathenism,  her 
utter  dejiendence  upon  God,  she  becomes  "strengthened  with  all 
might,  according  to  His  glorious  power,  unto  all  patience  and  long- 
siiffering  with  J  oyfidness.^^ 

The  need  is  great  for  such  women  as  these.  In  India  and  China 
alone  hundreds  are  needed  to-day.  Those  who  are  in  the  work  some- 
times faint  imderthe  burden  and  heat  of  the  day.  They  are  frequently 
alone  and  in  dark  zenanas,  must  do  serious  operations  which  in  the 


The  World's  Conquest.  223 

home  land  they  would  not  dream  of  doing  without  two  or  three  con- 
sultants. In  the  dispensary  they  work  hour  after  hour  with  aching 
heads  and  wearied  with  fever,  seeing  from  forty  to  two  hundred  pa- 
tients daily.  Our  young  women  (and  men)  doctors  are  cut  off  from 
many  of  the  instruments,  periodicals,  and  books  which  at  home  are 
considered  absolutely  essential,  and  yet,  so  handicapped,  they  must  do 
tirst-class  work.  Sometimes  seeing  strange  sights,  more  vile  than  they 
have  dreamed  of,  they  grow  morbid,  feeling  that  their  minds  and  souls 
are  debased  by  the  moral  atmosphere,  as  then-  bodies  are  debilitated  by 
the  physical. 

Then,  too,  they  meet  ingratitude,  vileness,  stupiditj^,  and  distrust. 
Ah,  yes,  it  all  comes ;  but  how  many  learn  "  to  take  pleasure  in  in- 
firmities, in  reproaches,  in  necessities,  in  persecutions,  in  distresses," 
for  Christ's  sake,  realizing  that  when  most  weak  they  lean  hardest  on 
His  strength,  and  that  by  that  jjower  in  these  dark  places  they  are  to 
have  no  small  share  in  the  transformation  of  races  and  peoples,  and 
in  hasteninof  the  coming:  of  the  "  new  earth." 


The  Women's  Boards  and  the  Volunteer  Movement. 

Mrs.  Richard  C.  Morse  said  :  — 

How  can  the  Women's  Boards  of  the  various  denominations  utilize 
the  Student  Volunteer  Movement,  and  promote  a  closer  relation  be- 
tween themselves  and  the  young  women  among  the  volunteers  ?  Be- 
fore answering  this  question,  I  would  like  to  say  a  few  words  to  the 
volunteers  in  regard  to  the  Boards.  Hoav  many  of  the  volunteers  know 
anything  about  the  Women's  Boards  ?  Their  knowledge  is,  I  imagine, 
confined  almost  entirely  to  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement,  and  to 
the  foreign  field,  while  about  these  Boards,  the  channels  leading  fi-om 
the  one  to  the  other,  they  know  little  or  nothing.  Almost  every  evan- 
gelical denomination  has  its  Women's  Board.  The  Women's  Boards 
of  the  Methodists  and  Friends,  and  the  Women's  Union  Missionary 
Society,  are  accountable  to  no  Board  above  them;  but  most  of  the 
others  work,  each  under  the  main  Board  of  the  denomination  to  which 
it  belongs,  just  as  the  auxiliaries  work  under  the  Women's  Boards. 

These  Women's  Boards  have  their  candidate  committees,  and  the 
candidates  whom  they  accept  are  accepted  and  appointed  by  the  main 
Board.  The  salaries  of  the  single  lady  missionaries,  and  of  many  of 
those  who  are  married,  outfits,  and  traveling  expenses,  are  paid  by  the 
Boards.  If  every  young  woman  of  the  student  volunteers  were  in 
direct  communication  with  the  Women's  Board  of  her  denomination, 
relations  would  be  estabUshed  which  would  grow  and  deepen  on  both 
sides,  and   which   would  be  of  great  mutual  benefit.     I  cannot  too 


224  The  World's  Conquest. 

strongly  urge  that  every  volunteer  should,  as  quickly  as  possible  after 
becoming  a  volunteer,  put  herself  in  such  relations. 

To  come  more  du-ectly  to  the  subject  before  us,  the  first  thing  for  a 
Board  to  do  to  "  promote  a  closer  relation  between  itself  and  the  volun- 
teers "  is  to  enter  into  communication  with  the  standing  committee  of 
the  Volunteer  Movement,  and  show  its  desire  to  be  in  sympathy  and 
co-operation  with  them.  The  Boards  and  the  Student  Volunteer 
Movement  are  all  working  for  the  same  cause.  Why  not  in  every  way 
help  each  other  to  attain  the  end  in  view  ? 

To  make  this  alliance  effective,  some  member  of  the  Board  should 
be  appointed  to  act  as  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement  secretary.  A 
youno-  woman  would  be  better  suited  to  act  in  this  capacity,  as  she 
would  be  more  likely  to  come  into  sympathy  with  the  young  volunteers. 
This  secretary  should  have  a  list  of  colleges  and  schools  in  which  the 
volunteers  are  organized  (within  the  territory  of  her  Board),  and  to 
them  she  shovild  send  such  leaflets  and  printed  matter  as  would  be  help- 
ful in  their  meetings  and  studies.  She  should  be  ready,  when  asked, 
to  help  them  to  secure  material  and  speakers  for  their  meetings,  and  to 
suggest  books  for  their  missionary  alcove. 

To  come  into  still  closer  relations,  the  secretary  should  receive  from 
the  standing  committee  of  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement  the  names 
and  addresses  of  all  the  women  volunteers  of  her  denomination,  and  to 
them  she  should  write,  or,  better  still,  if  practicable,  she  should  call  on 
them.  She  should  learn  the  circumstances  of  each :  whether  they  feel 
drawn  to  any  particular  form  of  work,  as  evangelistic,  medical,  or 
teaching ;  if  any  one  field  lays  especial  claim  on  them.  It  should  also 
be  learned  of  each  whether  she  plans  to  go  to  the  field  as  soon  as  her 
studies  are  completed.  To  each  one  the  secretary  should  send  such 
leaflets  as  would  be  helpful  in  her  preparation,  and  in  every  way  pos- 
sible come  into  sympathetic  touch  with  her.  If  possible,  it  would  be 
well  for  the  volunteers  to  meet  with  their  Board  while  still  studying. 
It  would  also  be  of  help  to  the  volunteers  if  members  of  the  Board 
would  visit  the  colleges  and  schools,  and  address  the  Volunteer  Bands, 
if  they  requested  such  visits. 

Lastly,  I  would  urge  most  earnestly  that  the  Boards  should  pray  for 
the  Student  Volunteer  Movement,  as  an  organization,  and  also  for  the 
individual  volunteers  as  they  become  known  through  their  secretary. 

Miss  Guinness  said  :  - — 

In  one  of  your  American  cities  not  far  from  here  there  is  a  gentle- 
man who  gave  his  only  daughter  to  China  a  few  years  ago.  She  was 
very,  very  dear  to  him,  and  he  hardly  knew  how  to  spare  her  from  his 
home  and  work,  but  he  said  when  he  gave  that  only  child  to  China,  "  I 


Thk  World's  Conqukst.  225 

have  nothing  too  precious  for  my  Jesus,  nothing  too  precious  for  my 
Jesus  ; "  and  I  take  it  here  to-day  our  hearts  echo  that  sentiment.  We 
are  here,  are  we  not,  as  missionaries,  as  student  vohinteers,  Avhatever 
we  may  be,  because  we  have  nothing  too  precious  for  our  Jesus.  We 
want  Ilim  to  have  our  lives  and  our  all  just  to  use  as  He  wishes,  any- 
where, in  any  work,  as  He  may  appoint.  Deeply  my  heart  sympathizes 
with  the  medical  work  of  which  we  have  just  heard,  and  of  the  educa- 
tional work  which  has  been  so  ably  put  before  us ;  and  what  I  am  going 
to  say  now  is  in  no  sense  antagonistic.  Our  work  is  to  evangelize  the 
world  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature.  A  great  many  will 
come  to  us  in  our  schools  and  in  medical  missions ;  but  in  what  way 
shall  we  reach  all,  every  one  ?  Think  of  China  alone.  Our  lady  doc- 
tors in  China  are  only  one  to  four  millions  of  women  and  children  : 
thirty-five  against  three  hundred  millions  of  people.  God  grant  that 
many  of  you  here  may  go  out  to  China  as  medical  missionaries.  But 
there  are  vast  populations  far  beyond  the  reach  of  medical  missionaries 
or  schools  that  must  be  evangelized  in  these  last  days,  and  how  is  that 
going  to  be  done  ? 

The  Province  of  Kwang  Sin  contains  a  population  of  about  sixteen 
millions  of  people.  About  six  years  ago,  I  think,  there  were  only  two 
stations  in  that  Province,  through  which  a  beautiful  I'iver  runs,  the  river 
Kwang  Si.  There  are  many  large  important  cities,  towns,  and  villages 
with  dense  population.  About  six  or  eight  years  ago  there  were  no 
missionaries  in  this  particular  region.  This  river  is  perhaps  two  hun- 
dred miles  long,  with  a  very  populous  country  on  both  sides.  In  our 
own  mission  now  we  have  about  twenty  stations.  We  have  aboiit  forty 
ladies  living  and  working  in  those  stations  with  their  native  heljjer,  but 
with  no  gentlemen  at  all  to  help  them.  The  population  on  both  sides 
has  been  to  a  very  considerable  extent  evangelized.  You  may  go  into 
towns  and  villages  where  missionaries  are  not  living,  and  you  will  find 
a  great  many  people  who  know  about  Jesus. 

In  the  station  at  the  head  of  that  river  there  were  two  young  ladies 
from  Scotland.  They  had  been  two  years  in  the  country  and  had 
learned  the  language,  and  theii*  hearts  were  on  fire  with  love  for  Jesus 
and  love  for  souls.  To  make  a  long  story  short,  they  were  appointed  to 
go  and  evangelize  up  and  down  the  course  of  the  river.  They  were 
going  amongst  the  people  as  they  could,  preaching  the  Gospel  with  no 
protection,  no  help  from  anybody  except  from  God.  They  wore  the 
native  dress  and  lived  in  native  houses,  boats,  etc.  They  received  the 
women  who  came  to  them,  told  them  of  Jesus,  and  were  by  degrees 
able  to  win  them.  One  went  into  the  city  at  the  head  of  that  river. 
When  she  undertook  the  work  there,  there  were  about  twenty  Christians. 
Four  years  after  that  time  I  stayed  there  for  a  while.  I  could  never 
tell  you  the  blessing  I  got  just  staying  six  weeks  quietly  in  that  city 


226  The  World's  Conquest. 

with  that  dear  young  girl.  When  I  stayed  with  her,  only  four  years 
afterwards,  they  had  four  out-stations,  in  all  of  which  there  were  indi- 
vidual Christians  gathered  and  forming  little  churches.  In  the  central 
station  they  had  gathered  one  hundred  and  twenty  individual  Christians, 
full  of  the  love  of  Christ  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  the  influence  of 
that  church  permeating  the  whole  neighborhood  around  was  just  the 
work  of  one  girl  with  her  native  pastor,  a  devoted  man  of  God.  That 
same  thing  has  been  repeated  in  station  after  station  up  and  down  that 
river,  and  hundreds  have  heard  of  Christ,  and  now  there  are  twenty 
stations  where  those  ladies  are  working  alone.  If  they  had  not  gone 
there  would  not  have  been  a  missionary  there  now.  They  are  the  only 
witnesses  for  Jesus. 

You  have  much  education,  much  more  culture  than  any  of  those 
girls,  and  why  should  you  not  be  privileged  to  go  and  do  likewise  ? 
There  are  thousands  of  cities  and  towns  without  one  witness  for  Jesus. 
In  that  one  Province  there  are  still  about  ninety  great  walled  cities 
where  no  missionary  is  to-day.  If  men  cannot  go,  and  there  are  not 
enough  to  take  up  the  work,  why  should  not  you  and  some  college 
friend  go  as  these  girls  went?  We  have  nothing  too  precious  for 
Jesus,  have  we  ?  We  only  want  to  know  His  will.  Will  you  not  go 
back  to  your  homes,  and  think  of  that  river,  and  think  of  those 
thirty  to  forty  young  women  working  there  to-day ;  think  of  the 
populous  cities  crowding  the  banks  without  one  single  witness  for 
Jesus,  and  ask  Him  when  and  how  He  wants  you  to  work  for  Him, 
and  He  will  tell  you. 

Women  in  Educational  Work  on  Foreign  Fields. 

Miss  Jane  G.  Evans,  of  Tuncha,  China,  said :  --- 

In  the  consideration  of  jouv  subject,  "  Women  in  Educational 
Work,"  I  desire  to  speak  about  four  things :  First,  Needs  ;  secondly, 
Opportunities  ;  thirdly.  Privileges  ;  fourthly,  Qualifications. 

(1)  Needs.  The  fact  that  there  is  a  crying  need  for  the  service  of 
educated  women  in  heathen  lands  goes  without  saying ;  I  need  not 
demonstrate  that  need.  Free  from  some  of  the  cares  that  burden  our 
brothers,  as,  for  instance,  public  ministry  and  the  oversight  of  native 
helpers,  we  are  at  liberty  in  a  peculiar  sense  to  throw  ourselves  into 
educational  work.  There  cannot  be  missionaries  enough  put  into  the 
field  to  work  for  the  great  mass  of  people  now  in  darkness.  That 
work  must  be  done  by  the  native  agency,  and  it  must  be  an  educated 
agency.     Educational  work  must  stand  at  the  front. 

In  China,  if  teachers  from  among  their  own  people  are  to  prepare 
for  the  work,  they  must  be  well  educated,  and  this  can  only  be  done 


The  World's  Conquest.  227 

by  careful  supervision  on  the  part  of  foreign  teachers ;  schools  must 
be  opened,  station  classes  taught,  and  teaching  must  also  be  done  in 
homes. 

(2)'Opportunities.  They  come  on  every  hand.  Where  shall  the 
women  work?  Everywhere:  teaching  in  homes  and  villages,  but, 
above  all,  in  schools  for  girls,  both  day  and  boarding,  thus  bringing  the 
poor,  neglected  girls  within  the  influence  of  our  lives,  made  bright  by 
the  light  of  the  Gospel,  —  bringing  light  and  joy  into  sad  and  dark- 
ened lives.  Who  can  begin  to  estimate  the  amount  of  good  done  for 
the  uplifting  of  heathen  women  through  boarding  schools !  Perhaps 
this,  more  than  any  other,  is  our  grand  opportunity. 

Another  opportunity  is  teaching  and  training  those  who  are  to  be 
the  future  mothers  in  China.  It  is  all  in  the  cause  of  education  when 
the  teacher  sits  down  by  the  side  of  her  heathen  sister  in  her  untidy 
home,  and  tries  to  fix  in  her  mind  a  simple  Christian  truth,  leading  her 
on,  step  by  step,  until  she  desires  the  education,  if  not  for  herself,  then 
for  her  little  ones,  and  her  consent  is  gained  that  they  may  take  regu- 
lar lessons  in  the  home.  Then,  as  they  improve,  the  desire  naturally 
comes  to  enter  the  boarding  school.  The  many  years  sj^ent  in  close 
companionship  with  a  loved  teacher,  whose  life  is  watched  and  stud- 
ied, does  tell  upon  these  young  girls,  and  we  have  often  seen  the  evi- 
dence of  our  influence  in  the  homes  which  in  after  years  our  pupils 
make.  Truly,  we  have  had  the  evidence  of  the  power  of  Christ  to 
change  the  whole  being. 

Station  classes  constitute  another  department  of  regular  instruction. 
Burdened  with  family  cares,  it  is  almost  impossible  for  heathen  women 
to  make  much  progress  while  in  theii*  own  homes ;  but  if  brought  to 
your  home  for  systematic  instruction,  they  quickly  respond  to  the 
teaching  given,  and  then-  hearts  and  lives  expand  under  the  influence 
of  the  Gospel. 

Finally,  there  is  an  opportunity  for  educational  work  among  boys' 
boarding  schools,  where  your  life  and  influence  will  tell  upon  those 
who  are  to  stand  in  the  forefront  of  Christian  work  in  the  near  future. 
A  lady  of  our  mission  is  both  instructor  in  the  theological  seminary 
and  teacher  in  the  college,  besides  being  a  worker  in  the  girls'  day  school. 
Who  shall  sa}'  that  we  do  not  have  boundless  opportunities  for  work 
in  educational  lines  in  foreign  lands !  // 

(3)  Privileges.  We  find  it  a  privilege  to  work  for  Christ  every- 
where and  anywhere ;  but  doubly  is  it  a  privilege  to  work  for  Him  in 
the  dark  places  of  the  earth.  It  is  then,  if  ever,  one  realizes  what 
Christ  has  done  for  us,  and  the  precious  privilege  it  is  to  tell  of  His 
love  to  others.  I  know  of  no  joy  greater  than  to  see  the  light  come 
into  the  face  of  a  dull,  sad,  heathen  woman  as  she  begins  to  realize 


228  The  World's  Conquest. 

what  Christ  has  done  for  her,  and  that  the  new  life  in  Him  is  for 
herself. 

Do  not  look  upon  the  leaving  of  home  and  friends  in  the  light  of 
sacrifice.  Is  it  not  a  privilege  to  give  to  others  of  the  love  Christ  has 
given  ns?  If  we  live  up  to  our  privileges  in  this  respect,  we  shall  cer- 
tainly find  it  is  "the  manifold  more  in  this  present  life."  Dear  sisters, 
did  you  ever  try  to  fathom  the  thought  of  the  privilege  of  being  "  co- 
laborers"  with  Him? 

(4)  Qualifications.  As  to  our  qualifications,  do  we  any  of  us  feel 
we  are  quite  fitted  for  such  blessed  work  as  Christ  puts  into  our  hands? 
No,  certainly  not,  when  we  try  to  do  it  in  our  own  strength.  But  we 
are  not  bid  to  try  in  our  own  strength,  but  in  the  strength  of  Him  who 
has  said,  "My  grace  is  sufiicient  for  thee:  for  my  strength  is  made 
perfect  in  weakness."  First  of  all,  there  must  be  a  consciousness  of 
nothing  in  ourselves,  but  that  all  must  come  from  Him.  There  must 
come  the  deep  yearning  for  souls  which  shall  see  in  every  one  we 
teach  a  soul  that  Jesus  loves,  and  for  which  He  died ;  also,  the  patience 
which  will  make  us  willing,  even  while  we  long  for  fruit,  patiently  to 
wait  for  it,  assured  that  the  promises  are  all  to  be  fulfilled  in  God's 
own  time. 

Love  for  souls,  patience  with  the  stupidity  and  indifference  of  the 
heathen,  a  cheerful  disjiosition  that  will  always  find  a  bright  side  to 
everything,  a  living  faith  in  God's  precious  promises,  a  courage  that 
shall  take  us  forward,  trusting  that  He  who  said,  "  Go  ye  "  and  "  teach 
all  nations,"  also  said,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway." 

Miss  Gertrude  S.  Bigelow  said  :  — 

The  work  of  the  missionary  in  Japan  is  to  a  great  extent  the  edu- 
cational work.  For  this  there  are  two  reasons.  The  only  way  we 
can  obtain  an  entrance  into  the  interior  is  by  teaching,  therefore,  it  is 
necessary  that  every  missionary  who  wishes  to  get  into  the  real  coun- 
try be  wilhng  to  teach.  Then  there  is  a  second  reason.  After  we 
educate  young  men  and  young  women,  they  can  go  out  and  do  work 
better  than  we  could,  because,  though  we  may  learn  to  talk  the  lan- 
guage, we  speak  at  a  disadvantage ;  hence  the  attention  is  often  turned 
from  the  message  to  ourselves.  A  year  ago  last  summer  I  went  with 
a  friend  to  a  small  island  on  the  west  coast,  where  we  conducted 
women's  meetings,  children's  meetings,  and  general  meetings.  There 
was  a  young  girl  who  had  been  educated  in  a  mission  school.  She 
thought  she  was  the  only  Christian,  but  every  Sunday  she  gathered 
just  as  many  children  as  she  could,  and  taught  them ;  and  when  the 
church  was  started  there,  some  of  those  children  were  the  first  ones  in 
the  church. 


The  Wokld's  Conquest.  229 

Nominally,  Japan  enjoys  religious  toleration ;  but,  as  a  matter  of 
jjractice,  the  Christian  religion  has  not  the  right  of  way  in  the  normal 
schools.  As  a  natural  consequence  of  this  prohibition,  the  trained 
native  teachers  are  mostly  agnostics. 

In  public  schools  religion  is  forbidden  to  be  taught.  Moralitj'  is 
taught.  As  a  consequence,  nearly  all  of  the  young  children  of  Japan 
are  growing  up  to  be  infidels.  In  our  schools  we  are  teaching  the 
Bible  every  da^^,  with  other  text  books,  and  if  we  can  get  hold  of  the 
young  childi-en,  we  won't  be  afraid  of  the  future  for  them.  When  a 
Japanese  girl  gets  so  she  can  read  an  English  book,  a  new  world  is 
opened  up  for  her.  In  Japan  there  is  nothing  fit  for  a  girl  to  read  at 
all ;  there  is  no  song  that  is  fit  to  be  sung.  So,  after  they  are  edu- 
cated, a  new  sphere  of  usefulness  opens  up  to  them,  where  they  exer- 
cise their  talents  as  trained  nurses,  besides  engaging  in  various  branches 
of  industrial  work.  The  fact  that  most  conclusively  demonstrates 
the  success  in  educational  work  by  women  in  Jajian  is  the  constant 
demand  from  all  parts  of  the  empire  for  their  services  as  teachers, 
doctors,  and  editors. 

Miss  Groenendyke  said  :  — 

In  Africa  we  have  found  the  key  for  the  solution  of  the  educational 
problem.  We  must  have  native  workers,  and  it  is  through  this  educa- 
tional departmeiit  that  we  are  going  to  get  them.  We  must  educate 
them ;  we  must  train  them.  I  had  to  learn  that  from  exjjerience  on 
the  foreign  field.  I  found  that  mj-  mission  was  to  eleven  young  men, 
and  I  sat  down  to  work  for  eleven  young  men,  and  thought,  have  I 
come  all  this  way  to  Africa  to  instruct  eleven  young  men?  These 
young  men  had  been  in  the  mission  from  three  to  five  years,  so  they 
had  been  in  the  school  very  little,  and  were  not  very  well  advanced  so 
far  as  the  educational  part  of  the  work  was  concerned.  I  thought, 
certainly  these  young  men  cannot  do  the  evangelistic  work  as  well  as 
if  we  had  missionaries  from  America  and  England  to  come  out  here. 
I  found  I  was  mistaken.  The  sons  and  daughters  of  Africa  can  better 
do  the  work  than  any  white  man  or  woman  that  I  ever  saw.  I  am 
accustomed  to  count  one  native  worker  equal  to  ten  white  people. 
I  taught  these  boys  through  the  week.  On  Sunday  morning  each  boy, 
taking  a  helper  and  some  one  to  help  them  sing,  would  go  just  as  far 
as  they  could  go,  returning  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  We  found 
that  these  eleven  young  men,  and  later  this  number  was  reduced  to  six, 
in  the  three  and  a  half  years  I  was  there,  reached  an  average  of  one 
thousand  people  every  Sunday,  some  Sundays  reaching  as  many  as  six 
thousand  people,  taking  to  them  the  Gospel  in  their  native  language, 
and  illustrating  in  a  way  they  could  understand. 


230  The  World's  Conquest. 

I  want  to  say  to  yoia  to-day  that  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa  women 
have  a  decided  advantage  as  laborers.  We  can  thank  God  that  the 
people  with  whom  we  labor  there  never  knew  a  bad  white  woman. 
They  have  known  many  bad  white  men,  but  never  a  white  woman  who 
has  not  elevated  them  by  her  influence.  As  we  go  to  these  people,  it 
brings  out  their  sympathies.  They  readily  accept  the  message  from  a 
woman,  while  they  will  doubt  a  man,  thinking  he  is  trying  to  catch 
them  for  slaves,  or  send  them  rum,  or  something  of  that  sort.  He  has 
to  prove  himself  before  they  will  accept  him,  but  when  a  woman  goes 
to  them  they  are  ready  to  accept  her  word. 


CONFERENCES  OF  SPECIAL  FIELDS. 


CHINA. 

Friday  Afterxooj^^,  March  2,  1894, 

The  Rev.  Harlan  P.  Beach,  Chairman. 

A  devotional  service  was  led  by  Rev.  Mr.  McCarthy,  of  the  China 
Inland  Mission, 

Past  Achievements  in  China   the  Foundation  and  the  Guar- 
anty OF  Future  Success. 

The  Rev.  R.  T.  Bryan,  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Board,  said :  — 

The  results  of  missionary  efEorts  in  China,  as  I  have  observed  them, 
maybe  given  under  three  dLEferent  heads:  (1)  The  Preparatory  Re- 
sults ;  (2)  The  Sowing  Results ;  (3)  The  Reaping  Results. 

(1)  The  Preparatory  Results.  I  would  call  your  attention  to  the 
opening  of  the  doors.  Fifty  years  ago  the  prayer  that  went  up  from 
every  heart  to  the  throne  of  God  was,  "  Oh,  God,  open  the  doors  of 
China."  But  we  do  not  make  that  prayer  at  the  present  time ;  it  is 
unnecessary.  And  when  we  were  sent  out  from  the  Conference  of 
Shanghai  in  1890,  we  were  all  requested  to  say  everywhere  not  to  pray 
for  open  doors,  but  to  pray  for  one  thousand  missionaries  to  enter  the 
open  doors.  Not  only  the  great  doors  of  China  have  been  opened,  but 
the  little  ones,  so  that  the  messengers  of  peace  can  go  all  over  China 
and  preach  the  Gospel. 

The  next  point  to  which  I  call  particular  attention  is  the  enrich- 
ment of  the  Chinese  language  necessary  before  the  Gospel  could  be 
preached  in  it.  You  can  see  that  a  language  which  had  expressed 
nothing  but  heathen  ideas  for  thousands  of  years  would  not  be  broad 


23"2  The  World's  Conquest. 

enough  to  teach  the  trutlis  of  God.  During  these  years  of  preparation 
the  missionaries,  as  they  have  translated  the  Bil)le  and  written  tracts 
and  explained  these  things  in  schools,  have  enriched  the  language 
greatly,  and  made  it  a  better  medium  for  the  expression  of  God's 
thouo-ht.  In  fact,  in  some  places  in  China  it  has  been  necessary  for 
the  missionaries  to  make  a  language,  —  to  take  the  spoken  language 
and  reduce  it  to  writing  and  then  translate  the  Bible  into  the  lan- 
o-uage.  And  what  has  been  done  in  this  respect  I  think  it  is  not  pos- 
sible for  us  to  conceive. 

Again,  great  things  have  been  accomplished  in  China  in  the  intro- 
duction of  Christian  music.  When  we  went  to  China  we  did  not  find 
music  there  fit  to  sing  the  songs  of  love  :  hence  it  became  necessary 
for  all  the  missionaries  going  to  China  to  translate  their  hymns  into 
the  Chinese  language,  and  then  to  teach  our  Christian  people  to  sing 
the  songs  that  have  stirred  our  hearts.  One  of  the  most  enthusiastic 
meetings  I  ever  attended  was  just  before  I  left  Shanghai.  We  were 
in  a  large  audience  room,  about  the  size  of  this,  and  more  than  three 
hundi-ed  converted  Chinese  stood  up  and  sung  that  old  familiar  song, 
"  I  will  arise  and  go  to  Jesus."  It  seems  to  me,  dear  friends,  that  we 
can  get  no  true  conception  of  what  it  means  —  fifty  thousand  men  and 
women  brought  out  from  the  darkness,  following  the  Captain  of  their 
soul,  and  singing  as  they  go  the  songs  of  redeeming  love.  I  believe 
it  would  hardly  be  possible  to  estimate  what  the  introduction  of  Chris- 
tian music  into  China  means. 

A  marked  increase  in  the  number  of  missionaries  marks  another 
grand  result.  About  sixteen  hundred  consecrated  missionaries 
have  left  their  homes  and  gone  to  this  land  to  tell  them  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  We  find  that  the  number  of  missionaries  has  been  more 
than  trebled  in  the  last  fifteen  years,  and  I  think  the  old  missionaries 
here  l)ear  me  out  in  saying  that  those  sixteen  hundred  missionaries 
have  not  only  swelled  in  numbers,  but  they  have  gone  upward  in  then- 
standard  of  spiritual  life,  just  as  you  have  gone  upward  here  in  this 
home  land.  What  does  it  mean  —  sixteen  hundred  men  and  women 
growing  in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ? 
God  only  knows ! 

Another  result  that  has  been  accomplished  is  that  the  way  for  the 
missionary  has  been  made  so  much  easier.  I  feel  that  the  young  men 
and  women  who  go  to  China  in  this  day,  when  they  think  of  the 
struggles  of  older  missionaries,  ought  to  lift  their  hearts  and  hands  and 
say,  "  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul,"  because  of  the  easy  road  spread  out 
before  them.  We  have  not  only  had  the  way  prepared  in  the  matter 
of  the  language,  but  in  learning  more  of  the  nature  and  character  of 
the  people  and  how  to  adapt  thought  to  their  minds.  I  remember 
one  day  while  walking  the  streets  in  a  Chinese  city  with  Dr.  Hudson 


The  World's  Conquest.  233 

Taylor.  As  we  walked  along  he  said  in  his  quiet  wa}' :  "  Brother 
Bryan,  the  learning  of  the  Chinese  language  is  less  than  the  smallest 
half  of  what  we  have  to  learn.  There  are  the  people  whom  we  must 
learn."  And  he  went  on  to  say  that  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  they 
knew  so  little  about  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  it  was  not  best  to  stand  up 
and  harangue  them  for  an  hour  or  two.  But  to  take  a  central  thought, 
and  for  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  carry  that  thought  to  their  hearts. 
These  things  were  worth  more  than  gold  to  me.  We  young  mission- 
aries can  sit  at  the  feet  of  these  older  missionaries,  and  know  things  in 
a  few  hours  that  took  years  for  them  to  learn. 

(2)  The  Sowing  Result.  We  find  that  the  seed  has  been  scattered 
here  and  there  in  many  ways.  Sometimes  the  preacher  has  stood 
upon  the  pulpit,  sometimes  in  the  street  chapel,  sometimes  in  the  open, 
sometimes  on  his  boat,  sometimes  in  the  Chinese  houses;  sometimes, 
with  his  native  brothers  and  sisters,  going  out  in  the  morning,  some- 
times before  the  sunrise,  going  all  day  and  until  bedtime,  scattering  seed 
here  and  there ;  sometimes  going  out  weeping,  sometimes  rejoicing ; 
sometimes  on  the  mountain  top,  sometimes  in  the  valley.  We  have 
gone  here  and  there,  and  with  God's  help  we  have  scattered  seed  all 
over  the  old  Empire.  I  saw  a  statement  the  other  day  that  was  so 
dark  and  discouraging  that  I  thought  I  wanted  to  tear  it  out  of  the 
book  and  throw  it  away.  It  was  that  there  are  yet  one  thousand  mill- 
ion heathen  who  have  yet  to  hear  the  Gospel.  And  the  thought  came 
into  my  mind,  what  have  these  sixteen  hundred  missionaries  been 
doing  over  there  in  China  all  these  years,  if  that  be  the  case  ?  But 
that  is  not  the  case.  In  China  alone  the  Gospel  has  been  preached  to 
millions ;  not  only  have  fifty  thousand  people  been  brought  inside,  but 
there  are  many  other  thousands  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God. 

(3)  The  Reaping  Results.  We  have  reaped  infidelity.  I  don't 
mean  infidelity  so  far  as  God  is  concerned ;  but,  through  the  work  of 
the  missionaries,  the  confidence  of  many  millions  of  the  Chinese  peo- 
ple has  been  shaken  in  the  gods  of  wood  and  stone ;  and  when  they 
pass  to  that  state  of  infidelity,  they  are  ready  to  step  into  the  truth 
as  we  i^reach  it  in  Jesus  Christ. 

We  have  also  reaped  a  changed  attitude  on  the  part  of  Chinese 
people.  Dr.  Taylor  said  last  night  that  the  China  of  forty  years  ago 
is  not  the  China  of  to-day.  The  Chinese  people  to-day  do  not  fear 
and  hate  the  Gosj^el  as  they  did  when  the  missionaries  first  went  over 
there.  I  notice  a  change  in  that  respect  within  the  seven  years  I  have 
been  there.  I  found  that  just  before  I  left  there,  I  could  get  around 
and  make  a  bai-gain  for  the  use  of  a  shop  as  a  preaching  place,  and  I 
could  place  my  tracts  on  their  walls  and  leave  them  there  when  I  left. 

Again,  we  have  reaped  in  China  about  fifty  thousand  converts. 
The  ratio  of  increase  in  the  last  thirty  years  is  about  eighteen  hundred 


234  The  World's  CoiSrQUEST. 

per  cent ;  and  if  they  keep  on  increasing  in  the  same  ratio  for  one 
hundred  years,  it  will  give  us  three  hundred  million  Christians,  and 
China  will  then  be  brought  more  thoroughly  to  God  and  more  thor- 
oughly Christianized  than  this  land  of  ours.  We  have  over  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  churches  in  China,  and  nearly  one  hundred  of  them  are 
self-supporting.  And  I  beheve  that  each  year  brings  us  growth  in  the 
standard  of  our  native  Christians.  I  think  I  am  safe  in  saying  that  if 
you  will  take  fifty  thousand  converts  from  any  part  of  this  country, 
our  fifty  thousand  in  China  will  compare  favorably  with  them.  I  wish 
I  had  time  to  speak  of  the  great  future  outlook  that  rises  before  us 
this  afternoon.  China  is  like  the  rising  sun,  that  I  beheve  will  soon 
rise  to  its  mid-day  effulgence  and  glory. 

China  :    Heb  Possibilities. 

Rev.  Gilbert  Reid  said  :  — 

I  didn't  know  exactly  what  niche  I  was  to  fill  in  this  scheme.  I  see 
that  Mr.  Bryan  is  the  historian  of  the  occasion  and  I  am  the  prophet. 
I  have  always  been  a  peculiar  kind  of  a  prophet.  As  to  prophecy  con- 
cerning the  destiny  of  China  or  missions  in  China,  we  find  quite  a  dif- 
ference. The  destiny  of  China  is  uncertain  ;  the  destiny  of  missions  in 
China  is  certain.  The  latter  is  based  on  Divine  authority,  and  the  for- 
mer is  the  result  of  human  conjecture.  The  latter  is  full  of  ultimate 
triumph  and  success.  But,  as  to  the  destiny  of  the  Chinese  nation, 
there  is  the  possibiHty  of  a  glorious  future ;  but  there  is  also  the  liabil- 
ity of  downfall  and  disaster.  Judging  the  Chinese  nation  from  the  last 
four  thousand  years,  w^ith  that  irresistible  trend  and  momentum  of 
Chinese  character,  with  her  power  of  resistance,  with  her  prominence 
and  with  her  solidity,  it  certainly  seems  that  the  Chinese  nation  would 
be  able  to  preserve  her  own  independent  sovereignty  for  many  a  cen- 
tury to  come,  and  that,  under  the  blessings  of  Christianity,  with  those 
benign  influences  which  come  from  the  providence  of  God  through  this 
blessed  religion  of  Christ,  the  Chinese  nation  surely  ought  to  be  able  to 
go  on  prospering  and  to  prosper. 

When  we  consider  the  missionary  organization,  we  find  that  it  is 
more  or  less  moulded  and  modified  by  certain  checks  and  assistances. 
It  is  modified  by  surrounding  circumstances,  and  hence  we  have  a  social 
and  political  aspect  of  the  work.  While  it  is  true  that  the  missionary 
goes  through  the  foreign  field  as  he  labors  here  at  home,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  individual  conversion,  it  is  also  true  that  there  is  that  national 
aspect,  that  he  has  to  seek  the  preservation  and  the  prosperity  and  the 
success  and  the  salvation  of  the  nation  to  which  he  goes.  And  in  the 
good  providence  of  God,  when  we  look  at  these  various  nations  of  the 


Thk  World's  Conquest,  235 

world,  we  find  a  glorious  opportunity  for  the  Christian  missionary  in 
that  old  empire  of  China. 

When  you  consider  that  young  man  that  sits  on  the  dragon  throne 
in  Fekin,  he  rules  something  more  than  these  nineteen  provinces  of 
China.  These  surrounding  countries  are  also  ruled  by  that  young  man, 
with  the  aid  of  the  Empress  Dowager,  who  for  the  last  thirty  years  has 
held  the  reins  of  power  in  that  empire,  and  might  be  classed  with 
Queen  Victoria,  the  two  ruling  together  the  largest  number  of  people 
on  the  globe.  And  when  you  find  that  that  young  man  in  China  is 
able  to-day  to  rule  that  kind  of  a  cosmopolitan  nation,  the  Manchus  of 
the  northeast,  the  Chinese  in  the  eighteen  provinces,  the  aboriginal 
tribes  and  the  people  of  Thibet,  it  shows  a  power  and  solidity  in  that 
nation,  which,  when  that  nation  is  converted  to  Christ,  will  make  it  the 
greatest  evangelistic  nation  in  the  world.  When  you  see  their  power 
of  emigration, —  going  to  Japan  for  instance  and  taking  the  power  of 
commerce  in  their  hands, —  what  will  it  mean  when  the  Chinaman  has 
become  a  Christian,  going  abroad  to  other  nations  as  a  means  in  the 
hands  of  God  of  converting  these  nations  to  Christ.  Just  as  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  is  the  great  missionary  race  of  the  Occident,  I  believe  that 
the  Chinese  race  is  destined  to  be  the  great  missionary  race  of  the 
Orient. 

But  we  notice  this  fact  concerning  the  Chinese  Empire  as  a  means 
of  hope  and  ultimate  success :  There  are  eighteen  hundred  cities  in 
China,  twenty-two  of  which  are  treaty  ports,  and  twenty-two  cities  also 
being  capitals.  Every  one  of  those  eighteen  hundred  cities  is  a  center 
of  influence  as  no  city  in  any  other  nation  is,  for  all  the  political  influ- 
ence is  centered  in  the  city.  In  all  but  two  of  those  twenty-two  treaty 
ports  missionary  operations  have  been  begun,  and  all  but  three  of  the 
provincial  capitals  have  missionaries  engaged  in  service  in  those  cities. 
But  the  larger  majority  of  cities  in  China  are  still  without  a  missionary 
of  any  denomination  or  of  any  society  of  Protestantism.  Providence 
has  placed  in  our  hands  as  Christian  missionaries  the  opportunity  of 
organizing  work  in  central  places,  from  which  the  gracious  influences 
of  Christianity  can  permeate  all  the  section  around ;  and  when  we  seize 
the  central  places,  the  districts  and  the  prefectures  and  the  provinces 
may  be  conquered  for  Christ. 

And  then,  when  j'ou  consider  the  political  system  of  China,  there  is 
also  hope  for  the  future.  The  Chinese  people  are  divided  into  two 
classes,  the  leaders  and  the  followers ;  and  there  is  not  the  distinction, 
as  you  find  in  India,  of  the  caste  element.  Those  who  are  the  leaders 
may  have  been  brought  up  from  the  subject  class.  The  ignorant  man 
may  be  ediicated,  and  become  the  man  of  prominence  and  power.  But 
everywhere  there  is  the  recognition  —  this  man  is  a  leader,  that  man  is 
a  follower ;  this  man  has  the  influence,  that  man  is  without  influence. 


236  The  World's  Coxquest. 

And  it  is  possible  not  only  to  convert  the  individual  soul,  but  it  is  the 
possibility,  under  the  providence  of  God,  to  convei-t  these  men  of  in- 
fluence in  China,  and  turn  their  influence  unto  the  evangelization  of 
their  fellow-countrymen.  As  David  Livingstone  says,  "  However  much 
we  may  reckon  on  the  importance  of  the  salvation  of  the  individual 
soul,  it  is  not  to  be  measured  in  comparison  along  with  the  spread  of 
truth  throughout  a  whole  nation."  And  so,  in  the  Chinese  Empire, 
when  we  once  begin  to  take  these  central  places  of  influence,  and  hold 
these  men  of  influence,  and  then  by  the  missionary  organization  use  this 
whole  influence  of  place  and  of  men  for  the  evangelization  and  the  sal- 
vation of  the  empire,  you  have  something  more  than  the  foreign  mis- 
sionary at  work :  you  have  the  foreign  missionary  organizing  the  work, 
and  through  native  agency  assured  of  ultimate  triumph  of  Christ's 
kingdom  in  that  empire.  That  is  what  I  regard  as  the  great  hopeful- 
ness of  the  missionary  cause  in  China  —  that  we  go  out  there  to  or- 
ganize the  work.  You  are  not  going  out  there  to  preach  the  Gospel  to 
all  these  heathen  yourself ;  you  would  have  to  send  more  missionai'ies 
to  do  that.  But  if  you  are  going  out  to  China,  you  have  the  power  to 
so  organize  the  work  that,  with  greater  rapidity  and  with  greater  as- 
surance of  success,  and  through  native  helpers  and  teachers  and  pastors, 
China  may  be  converted. 

Now,  one  other  word,  in  conclusion,  as  to  the  hopefulness  of  the 
future.  We  have  fifty  thousand  communicants  in  China  and  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  adherents.  Outside  of  that,  I  agree  with  Mr. 
Bryan  in  the  statement  that,  while  there  are  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  who  may  class  themselves  as  adherents,  there  will  be  another 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  at  least  who  believe  that  Christianity 
is  true,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  not  only  a  sage  but  a  Saviour ;  but  on  ac- 
count of  the  hostility  of  their  neighbors,  and  from  fear  of  them  and  of 
the  literati  and  of  their  own  rulers,  they  do  not  confess  Him.  The 
leaven  is  at  work  wherever  any  of  our  constituency  of  one  hvmdred 
and  fifty  thousand  are  found.  We  have  native  pastors,  hel})ers,  teach- 
ers, boys'  schools,  girls'  schools,  colleges,  theological  seminaries,  and 
sixteen  hundred  missionaries.  We  have  now  gone  forth  to  the  battle. 
Heretofore  it  has  been  a  skirmish  :  now  we  are  g-oina:  to  seize  the  old 
bulwarks  that  stand  up  there  with  their  tremendous  walls  of  resistance; 
and  with  all  that  hostility  standing  there  glaring  at  us  from  the  top  of 
the  walls,  we  wonder  how  they  will  be  converted  to  Christ.  Toil  along 
patiently ;  show  forth  the  S2)irit  of  the  Master ;  help  your  fellowmen  ; 
speak  the  kind  word  ;  do  the  kind  act.  Even  those  mighty  bulwarks 
of  Confucianism,  and  Buddhism,  and  Taoism,  and  intense  national  con- 
servatism and  prejudice,  and  literary  arrogance,  will  yield  to  the  power 
of  Christ  by  and  by.  The  bulwarks  are  conquered,  not  by  war  or 
hatred  or  antagonism  or  revenge,  but  by  loveliness,  by  gentleness,  by 


The  World's  Conquest.  237 

kindliness,  by  sympathy,  by  patience,  by  humility,  by  faith  in  God,  and 
by  the  power  of  God's  Spirit.  As  surely  as  God's  promises  have  been 
fulfilled  in  the  past,  so  shall  they  be  fulfilled  in  the  future,  when  those 
from  the  land  of  Sinim  shall  also  be  saved. 

What  a  Woman  Can  Do  on  Medical  Lines  in  China. 

Miss  C.  H.  Daniells,  M.  D.,  of  the  Northern  Baptist  Mission  of 
Swatow,  said :  — 

What  are  the  results  that  we  found  in  our  dispensaries  in  our  medi- 
cal work  in  China?  In  answering  this  question  I  recognize  direct  and 
indirect  results.  Prominent  among  the  latter  is  the  influence  upon  men 
who  are  reared  vnth  the  degrading  estimate  of  woman  which  always 
accompanies  idol  worship.  When  an  intelligent  Christian,  well  skilled 
in  medical  science  and  practice,  calls  to  the  dispensary  the  neglected 
woman,  and  is  as  thoroughly  in  earnest  to  secure  her  recovery  as  that 
of  her  husband,  son,  or  brother,  the  "head  of  the  house"  wakes  up  to 
the  fact  that  a  woman  has  a  soul,  and  that  her  life  ought  to  be  some- 
thing beyond  a  life  of  servitude.  Not  long  since,  in  one  of  his  unique 
sermons,  ray  pastor  showed  to  his  people  that  when  Christ  stood  before 
Pilate  it  was  not  Christ,  but  Pilate,  that  was  being  tried.  So,  it  seems 
to  me,  regarding  the  condition  of  things  in  those  lands  where  woman's 
degradation  is  so  universally  recognized,  it  is  truly  manh  degradation 
that  is  being  proven ;  and  the  small  dispensaries,  from  which  go  forth 
so  much  of  the  Spirit  of  Him  who  came  to  save,  are  mighty  instru- 
ments for  enlightening  the  sentiments  of  those  oppresive  sons  of  earth. 

The  direct  influences  upon  woman  are  many.  The  Chinese  are  a 
suspicious  people ;  and  they  are  not  suspicious  of  the  foreigner  only, 
but  of  everybody  and  everything.  When  we  consider  historical  facts 
we  may  justh^  esteem  that  people  for  this  very  suspicion,  for  no  nation 
of  this  earth  has  been  called  to  learn  such  severe  lessons  of  duplicity, 
dishonor,  usurpation,  and  knavery,  as  has  China  in  intercourse  with 
foreign  nations.  It  would  be  a  stupid,  dead  people  who  would  not  be 
on  the  alert  in  futm-e  contact.  But  they  are  terribly  suspicious  of  each 
other ;  and  I  know  of  no  instrumentality  for  better  disarming  this  than 
the  dispensary  and  hospital. 

The  women  come  to  these  hospitals  and  dispensaries  and  bring  their 
children.  At  first  they  are  timid;  soon  they  become  confiding.  They 
leave  the  dispensary  when  the  physician  leaves ;  they  follow  in  com- 
panies to  the  boat,  and  along  the  river  banks  as  it  moves  down  the 
river.  They  have  caught  a  faint  glimpse  of  the  loving  Spirit  that  act- 
uates work  of  this  kind,  and,  rejoicing  in  relief  from  pain,  they  recog- 
nize the  visible  good  that  quickly  touches  the  heart ;  and  thus  the  way 
is  paved  for  giving  them  the  Gospel  in  its  power  and  in  its  beauty. 


238  The  World's  Conquest, 

I  can  never  forget  a  woman  who  came  to  my  hospital  in  all  the  de- 
basement of  her  heathenish  ignorance,  and  who,  while  remaining  for  a 
time  in  order  that  she  might  be  operated  upon  for  a  cancerous  tumor 
on  the  eyelid,  became  interested  in  what  my  excellent  Bible  woman  had 
been  saying  to  her.  The  woman  began  to  be  interested  in  the  Gospel, 
and  she  heard  it  from  day  to  day  from  the  lips  of  the  Bible  woman, 
who  was  a  very  faithful  character.  She  said  to  her  one  day :  "  I  be- 
lieve that  that  Gospel  you  have  been  preaching  to  me  is  the  true  Gospel. 
But  there  is  just  one  thing  that  stands  in  the  way  of  accepting  it.  Ten 
long  years  ago  I  made  a  vow  to  a  priest  that  I  would  eat  no  meat,  and 
I  have  never  broken  that  vow,  and  I  cannot  break  it.  That  is  all  that 
stands  in  the  way  of  my  putting  aside  my  heathen  religion.  I  can  give 
up  the  gods,  but  I  don't  know  how  to  break  this  vow." 

The  Bible  woman  said :  "  When  the  Heavenly  Father  teaches,  He 
shows  every  bit  of  the  way.  Now,  let  us  go  and  ask  Him  what  you 
shall  do  in  order  that  you  may  overcome  this,  that  you  may  break  this 
vow." 

And  so  they  went  together  in  private  prayer  for  a  long  time,  and 
then  a  little  consultation,  and  they  came  back  to  the  dining-room  where 
there  had  been  prepared  food  in  the  eating  of  which  the  vow  should 
be  broken. 

The  old  woman  turned  to  the  Bible  woman  and  said,  "  Won't  you 
prepare  this?  Won't  you  take  the  leading  steps  in  breaking  this  vow 
for  me?" 

"  No,"  she  said.  "  When  your  heart  is  right  before  God  it  will  be 
an  easy  matter.     Take  hold  and  eat  that  food  and  break  your  vow." 

Then  the  opening  up  and  the  enlightening  of  that  mind  was  per- 
fectly wonderful.  I  wish  I  could  picture  that  woman  to  you  to-day. 
She  was  about  seventy-five,  under  size  and  slight.  There  she  stood 
upon  her  little  bound  feet,  hardly  able  to  work  because  her  poor  feet 
were  so  mutilated,  and  yet  a  woman  with  a  tenacity  of  purpose  that  is 
so  characteristic  of  the  Chinese,  She  went  on,  day  by  day,  and  received 
instructions  and  came  out  so  bright  and  cheerful  and  happy,  and  then 
she  said,  "  I  want  it  understood  in  my  family  that  henceforth,  under  all 
circumstances,  I  put  aside  every  form  of  idol  worship."  She  called  her 
son-in-law  and  daughter  down  to  the  dispensary,  and  when  they  came 
she  gave  them  instructions  as  to  what  should  be  done.  She  went  to 
her  home  after  a  while  and  there  her  work,  feeble  as  it  was,  began 
among  her  most  intimate  friends,  and  in  a  little  while  she  had  told  the 
Gospel  to  a  great  company.  Soon  she  was  taken  sick,  and  she  said  to 
her  children,  "  Remember,  that  no  worship  shall  be  kept  up  for  me,  no 
ancestral  worship,  no  heathen  rites  shall  occur  over  my  grave.  I  will 
be  buried  as  a  Christian."  And  she  made  them  promise  this.  That 
woman  died  and  left  an  influence  that  was  powerful.     And  this  work 


The  World's  Conquest.  239 

was  one  of  our  cases  of  hospital  work.  When  a  student  in  college 
I  heard  that  brilliant  colored  lawyer,  John  M.  Langston,  speak.  Tt  was 
the  occasion  of  a  reunion  of  some  kind  in  Oberlin,  and  I  shall  never 
forget  the  thrill  of  admiration  of  the  man  and  of  glory  in  the  institution 
that  filled  m}^  being  as  he  said,  "  Oberlin  taught  me  my  manhood." 
And  so  may  I  say  of  the  dispensaries  —  they  teach  women  their  woman- 
hood. All  along  the  earthly  career  they  have  been  taught  that  China 
and  the  Chinaman  are  of  matchless  importance.  They  have  held  most 
exalted  reverence  and  paid  sincerest  homage  to  her  gods ;  they  have 
heard  with  wondering  ears  of  her  sages ;  and  they  have  gone  forward  in 
the  duties  of  a  very  crude  form  of  domesticity,  without  the  least  sus- 
picion of  the  exaltation  there  is  in  God's  womanhood,  and  much  less  of 
their  own  priceless  fortune  in  this  God-given  inheritance.  A  well 
trained  Bible-reader  exalts  the  duties  of  motherhood,  wifehood,  sister- 
hood, and  awakens  a  desire  to  become  a  more  thrifty,  amiable  w^oman. 
It  is  a  slow  process,  but  thousands  of  women  receive  their  knowledge 
of  a  Saviour  in  these  dispensaries  w^ho  would  never  come  M-ithin  range 
of  Christian  influence  but  for  these. 

I  was  favored  with  a  Bible-reader  who,  as  a  heathen,  learned  to 
read,  stimulated  by  no  less  motive  than  the  ability  to  tell  fortunes.  But 
the  Lord,  whose  loving  eye  was  upon  her,  even  in  her  idolatry,  led  her 
out  of  it  as  truly  as  He  led  Abraham  from  Mesopotamia,  and  all  through 
her  work  in  my  dispensary  and  hospital  she  showed  the  superiority 
which  results  from  great  struggles  in  receptive  minds ;  hence  she  was 
able  to  aid  such  as  came  under  her  influence  in  the  waiting  room,  and 
to  leave  with  them  imjjressions  which  they  carried  to  their  homes  and 
which  would  give  to  their  domestic  life  a  brighter  tinge,  visions  of 
nobler  living  and  of  rest  in  the  risen  Redeemer. 

Woman  and  Her  Wrongs  in  China. 

Miss  Geraldine  Guinness  said  :  — 

We  want  to  be  real  practical,  and  come  right  to  the  point  that  was 
started  here  at  the  beginning  of  our  meeting.  Why  should  I  go  to 
China  ?  Let  me  just  give  you  three  reasons  that  come  into  my  mind. 
»^  ^jOne  reason  is  because  a  million  a  month  in  that  great  land  are  dying 
j  without  God.  Can  you  picture  what  it  is  to  die  without  God  ?  Can 
you  imagine  it?  I  never  could  before  I  went  to  China.  I  never  could 
until  I  stood  by  the  deathbed  of  many  and  many  a  woman  in  that  land, 
and  saw"  what  it  really  means.  You  cannot  imagine  it.  I  have  sat 
upon  the  earthern  floor  of  a  Chinese  hovel  all  through  the  long  night, 
and  hour  after  hour,  watched  the  gradual  flickering  of  the  lamp  of  life 
as  I  counted  the  pulse  beats  of  a  heathen  girl.     I  have  sat  there  when 


240  The  World's  Conquest. 

all  the  people  in  the  house  were  sound  asleep,  when  the  mother  in  the 
next  room  Avas  smoking  opium,  and  left  the  dying  girl  to  us  alone ;  and 
if  we  had  not  been  there,  she  would  have  been  by  herself  in  the 
darkness  of  the  outer  room,  where  they  had  put  her  to  die.  And 
there  upon  the  ground,  with  her  head  upon  my  knee,  hour  after  hour 
through  the  long  night,  it  has  been  burned  into  my  soul  what  it  is  to 
die  without  God. 

There  is  one  sitting  here  in  this  audience  this  afternoon  who  was 
with  me  far  in  the  heart  of  China,  in  the  Province  of  Honan,  in  a 
scene  I  shall  never  forget.  I  had  been  called  out  one  evening  to  an 
opium  case  :  a  woman  had  taken  opium  ;  we  were  sent  for  to  save  her 
life.  We  went  to  the  courtyard  of  the  house,  and  I  saw  a  young 
woman  sitting  in  the  courtyard  nursing  a  baby.  They  said  that  was 
she.  I  was  surprised,  she  looked  so  well.  She  had  a  little  child  in 
her  arms.  I  said,  "  Take  away  the  baby."  I  gave  her  medicines.  Her 
husband  walked  up  and  down  the  yard  with  her,  to  keep  her  from 
going  to  sleep,  and  I  thought  all  would  be  well.  For  about  half  an 
hour  I  watched  her,  and  there  was  no  sign  of  the  medicine  taking  any 
effect.  We  gave  stronger  medicines.  Then  I  became  rather  anxious, 
and  sent  for  the  friend  that  is  here  this  afternoon.  Quite  suddenly,  as 
I  was  Avatching  the  patient  walking  down  the  courtyard  with  her  hus- 
band, she  became  rigid  all  over,  and  just  fell  upon  the  ground.  I  could 
do  nothing.  I  saw  in  a  moment  that  she  was  dying.  I  was  taken  by 
surprise,  it  was  so  sudden  ;  and  there  she  lay,  just  beyond  the  reach  of 
our  help  in  a  moment.  The  quantity  of  opium  she  had  taken  was  so 
great  that  nothing  could  be  done  for  her.  She  passed  right  away  be- 
fore our  very  eyes,  a  heathen  soiil  that  had  never  heard  of  Christ,  into 
a  Christless  eternity.  Oh,  as  my  heart  was  wrung  with  sorrow,  I  felt 
again  what  it  is  to  die  without  God !  Will  you  think  over  it  ?  Some- 
time, in  the  quiet  of  your  own  room,  kneel  down  and  think  of  a  thou- 
sand every  hour,  in  that  great  land,  dying  without  God !  Will  you 
think  of  what  lies  beyond  that,  and  then  ask  yourself,  "  Why  shoiild 
I  not  go  to  China  ?  " 

yAnother  reason,  because  300,000,000  in  China  are  living  withoiit 
God.  Oh,  brothers  and  sisters,  can  you  picture  what  it  is  to  live  with- 
out God  ?  Have  you  ever  thought  of  it,  to  have  no  hope  for  the  future 
and  none  for  the  present,  to  have  no  refuge  in  our  sorrows  and  cares, 
to  have  no  heart  of  love  to  turn  to  in  bereavement  and  loss,  to  have 
no  stronger  arm  than  our  own  to  lean  upon,  to  have  no  light  at  all 
upon  the  great  beyond,  to  have  no  Christ,  He  who  is  the  Light  of  life, 
the  joy  of  our  hearts  ?  Can  you  imagine  what  it  is  to  be  without  Him  ? 
Will  you  upon  your  knees  joicture  to  yourself  a  life  without  God  ? 

And  what  is  the  life  of  the  women  in  China  ?  As  little  girls,  they 
are  happy  enough.     In  their  fathers'  homes  they  are  kindly  treated,  as 


Thk  World's  Conquest.  241 

a  rule.  But  very  early  in  childhood  sometimes,  they  are  sent  to  the  ^ 
home  of  the  mother-in-law,  not  to  be  married,  but  to  live  under  the  ' 
care  of  the  parents  of  the  boy  to  whom  in  subsequent  years  they  will  i 
be  united  in  marriage.  And  there  how  terribly  they  suffer  sometimes. 
I  will  tell  you  what  I  have  seen.  One  bitterly  cold  winter  morning  I 
heard  the  cries  of  a  child.  I  looked  out  down  the  hill  and  a  settlement  ^ 
of  houses  below  where  we  were  living,  and  I  saw  a  little  daughter-in- 
law  about  eleven  years  old,  who  lived  in  a  cottage  below.  We  knew 
she  Avas  unkindly  treated  by  her  mother-in-law  and  father-in-law.  I 
saw  the  man,  a  tall,  powerful  Chinaman,  drag  that  little  child  out  into 
the  snow  without  any  clothing,  and  beat  her  violentl}'  Avith  the 
branch  of  a  thornbush.  I  heard  that  child's  cries,  and  sent  down  to 
try  to  interfere.  I  knew  that  sort  of  thing  was  going  on  in  hundreds 
of  homes  from  end  to  end  of  China.  Oh,  I  coidd  tell  you  so  much  of 
what  I  have  seen  right  along  that  line.  But  perhaps  they  stay  at 
home  with  their  own  parents  until  they  are  married.  Have  you  ever 
thought  Avhat  it  is  like  to  be  married  to  a  man  you  had  never  seen,  who 
was  very  likely  an  opium  smoker,  or  a  gambler,  or  A'icious  ?  Have  you 
ever  thought  what  it  was  to  be  taken  from  your  own  home,  and  set 
right  down  among  strangers,  with  no  welcome,  no  love,  no  privacy,  no 
protection,  in  a  heathen  family,  far,  jierhaps  it  may  be,  from  your  own 
fi'iends  and  circle  ?  Yoii  can't  imagine  Avhat  the  lives  of  the  women 
are  in  China  when  they  are  married  and  have  their  children  growing 
up  around  them  in  those  heathen  homes.  Oh,  the  sorrows  of  those 
women.  I  remember  sitting  one  night  with  five  or  six  ladies  in  a 
Chinese  house.  They  came  into  my  room,  and  were  sitting  around 
the  fire,  and  I  was  telling  them  about  Jesus.  One  old  lad}-  leaned  for- 
ward to  me,  and  said,  "  We  like  to  hear  these  things ;  it  makes  our 
hearts  feel  wider  when  we  hear  these  things  that  we  have  never  heard 
before."  Oh,  the  narrowness,  the  oppression,  the  darkness  of  those 
lives ! 

One  more  thought:  Why  should  I  go  to  China?  Because  the  Lord  "^ 
Jesus  Christ  is  there  and  wants  me.  He  is  there  in  those  dark  homes ;  \ 
He  is  there  in  those  great  heathen  cities.  He  is  there :  He  knows  every 
want  of  the  hearts  of  all  the  millions  in  all  that  might}"  nation.  He  is 
there ;  and  He  wants  you,  and  He  wants  me.  He  cannot  now,  as  He 
once  did,  walk  up  and  down  among  men.  He  cannot  go  to  the  sor- 
rowing and  wipe  the  tear  away ;  Pie  cannot  speak  the  words  that  no 
man  spake.  He  wants  you  to  do  that  for  Him ;  He  wants  me.  The 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  there :  He  knows  the  sorrows  of  those  hearts ;  He 
knows  their  needs ;  He  knows  that  you  can  help  them ;  He  knows  that 
through  your  life  and  through  your  Ups  He  can  bring  hfe  and  blessing 
where  there  is  nothing  but  darkness  and  sorrow.  He  wants  you  there. 
I  don't  know  what  province  it  may  be  in  or  what  city,  but  I  know  that 


242  The  World's  Conquest. 

the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  wants  scores  of  you  in  China.  And  when  He 
gets  you  there,  He  will  teach  you  so  much  of  joy  and  sweetness  of  His 
presence  in  loneliness  and  sorrow,  that  you  will  praise  Him  through  all 
eternity  that  He  gave  you  the  privilege  of  living  His  life  over  again  in 
the  power  of  the  Spirit  there  where  you  are  needed  so  much. 

I  will  leave  this  thought  with  you,  the  advice  of  John  Wesley  to 
the  young  man  who  came  to  him  and  said,  "  What  shall  I  do  with  my 
life  ? "  "  Go  not  after  those  that  need  you,  but  after  those  that  need 
you  most." 

Rev.  Henry  Kingman,  of  North  China,  then  spoke  as  follows, 
about  — 

The  Need  of  Men  and  Women  or  Liteeaey  Tastes  in  China. 

Every  stage  of  this  work  is  evangelistic ;  and  the  kind  of  literary 
work  of  which  I  have  to  speak  is  the  sort  of  work  which  has  been 
done  for  the  salvation  of  a  class  of  people  which  are  now  not  acces- 
sible in  most  places  in  China.  The  other  day,  in  one  of  our  Eastern 
seminaries,  a  young  man  was  saying,  "  Is  there  any  need  for  men  of 
literary  tastes  in  China  ? "  He  was  a  man  of  more  than  usual  intel- 
lectual capacity.  He  accepted  it  as  a  talent  given  by  God.  He  wished 
to  place  it  where  it  would  tell  in  the  largest  degree.  He  said,  "Do 
you  think  there  is  a  place  for  me,  particularly  with  my  special  lines 
of  work,  in  China?"  It  is  in  answer  to  this  question  I  have  been 
asked  to  speak. 

I  think  there  is  a  great  place  for  this  class  of  men  and  women.  Of 
course  they  are  needed  in  India  and  Japan ;  but,  considering  how  very 
little  has  been  accomplished,  and  how  vast  is  the  work  to  be  accom- 
jDlished,  I  think  there  is  no  field  in  the  world  where  men  of  literary 
tastes  are  so  greatly  needed  as  in  China.  First  of  all,  to  provide  a 
literature  that  shall  reach  the  better  classes  of  people,  to  whom  most 
missionaries  now  make  no  attempt  to  carry  it,  because  the  way  is  not 
open.  During  the  five  years  I  was  in  Tien-tsin,  I  don't  know  of  a 
single  case  where  an  individual  of  the  better  class  of  rich,  influential 
men  of  position  and  power  ever  came  within  the  influence  of  mission- 
ary boards.  During  the  twenty-eight  years  these  boards  have  been 
there  Ave  have  not  touched  with  the  extremities  of  our  fingers  that 
class  of  people  who  represent  the  best  element  of  society,  the  literati. 
They  hate  us  intensely ;  but  many  of  them  love  their  own  people,  and 
subscribe  largely  for  the  poor  and  needy  in  Chinese  cities.  I  have 
more  than  once  heard  from  missionaries  these  words, —  not  only  that 
they  have  not  yet  done  anything  for  the  better  classes,  but  that  they 
did  not  care  to  bother  with  them ;  that  the  way  was  so  difticult  they 
had  not  the  time  to  give  it  consideration. 


The  World's  Conquest.  243 

The  Iloiian  placards  have  been  traced  to  our  enemies,  the  literati. 
There  is  no  question  but  they  had  been  scattered  in  everj^  market  town 
of  that  province.  Tliere  can  be  no  question  but  that  this  told  of  the 
height  of  that  wall  of  suspicion,  fear,  and  hatred  that  rises  between 
us  and  the  better  classes.  Now,  how  may  this  wall  of  suspicion  be 
crushed  ?  Mr.  Tenney,  of  Tien-tsin,  Avho  has  been  for  many  years  the 
tutor  of  the  Viceroy's  son,  and  knows  the  complexion  of  affairs  in  the 
Foreign  House,  said  that  out  of  three  hundred  officers  there  were  but 
three  men  who  did  not  believe  the  truth  of  the  infamous  charges 
brought  against  the  missionaries,  chiefly  the  Roman  Catholic  mission- 
aries. Most  of  them  believed  them  altogether;  and  there  are  but  three 
out  of  three  hundred  who  did  not  believe  that  those  charges  are  true. 
He  attempted  to  reason  with  them ;  he  showed  them  how  impossible  it 
was  that  the  foreigners  should  thus  cut  out  eyes  to  make  chemicals,  or 
cut  out  hearts  to  prepare  silver  with.  But  they  said,  "  We  have  the 
absolute  proofs  " ;  and  they  brought  out  as  a  proof  the  letter  of  the 
magistrate  of  Nanking,  who  had  himself  gone  and  insjaected  the  grave- 
yard of  one  of  the  great  cathedrals,  and  said  that  he  had  himself  seen 
the  proofs  of  these  outrages.  He  wrote  this  OA'^er  his  own  signature. 
And  they  said,  "  We  have  the  absolute  proofs."  This,  of  course,  is 
ignorance.  How  are  they  to  be  reached  beyond  this  wall  of  igno- 
rance ? 

The  work  is  being  done  by  such  men  as  Dr.  Farber,  and  other  men 
of  this  character,  who  are  able  to  prejjare  works  written  in  a  style  ac- 
ceptable to  the  literary  men,  and  which  are  undermining  and  breaking 
down  these  walls  of  separation. 

At  the  great  literary  examinations  of  China  you  may  see  every  two 
or  three  years  this  scene  :  The  helpers  wait  at  the  outside  of  the  exam- 
ination halls  for  the  students  as  they  go  out.  There  is  j^resented  to 
every  student  as  he  leaves  the  examination  hall  a  little  packet  of  these 
books,  showing  how  intimately  the  blessings  of  civilization  in  Western 
nations  are  the  product  of  Christianity,  showing  them  how  groundless, 
how  baseless,  how  false  is  this  suspicion.  They  take  these  books. 
Last  year  in  many  thousands  only  three  or  four  did  not  receive  them. 
They  take  them  home  and  read  them.  There  is  a  field  for  men  and 
women  of  literary  tastes  to  provide  that  class  of  literature  which  seems 
to  be  absolutely  essential,  and  which  must  be  provided  in  far  greater 
variety  to  reach  that  class  of  men. 

A  second  thing  is  the  need  of  literature  to  reach  the  common  peo- 
ple. A  chapel  preacher  speaks  with  but  a  single  voice ;  a  man  like 
Griffith  John  sj^eaks  with  a  million  voices.  There  is  no  man  in  China 
I  suppose  like  Griffith  John,  in  the  vastness  of  the  influence  he  has  had 
upon  the  people  in  China.  Griffith  John  has  been  able  to  multiplj^ 
these  tracts  which  have  been  distributed  by  the  million  through  China. 


244  The  World's  Conquest. 

There  are  many  hundreds  of  colporteurs  distributing  these  works 
through  China. 

But  there  is  nothing  more  difficult  than  the  MTiting  of  a  good  tract, 
and  in  the  north  of  China  there  is  no  need  more  imperative  than  that 
of  more  literature  and  better  literature  than  we  now  possess.  We 
ought  to  distribute  tracts  broadcast  among  the  people  to  whom  we  go. 
We  want  to  be  able  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  hundreds  of  those  who 
will  never  enter  chapels,  but  who  by  these  itinerant  coljjorteurs  may  be 
brought  under  their  influence  and  reached  in  this  way  by  the  sermons 
of  the  best  and  most  earnest  Christian  minds  that  are  now  in  China. 
We  need  more  men  and  women  who  will  provide  for  us  this  class  of 
literature. 

There  is  another  thing :  The  deeper  is  our  respect  and  veneration 
for  the  Word  of  God,  the  greater  should  be  our  care  that  we  should 
give  that  Word  to  the  people  to  whom  we  go,  not  endeavoring  by  peri- 
phrasis to  smooth  down  the  difficult  places,  but  to  give  the  very  Word 
of  God  as  nearly  as  we  can,  to  reproduce  intelligently  the  original 
manuscripts.  How  invaluable  is  the  work  of  the  revision  of  the  Bible 
that  is  now  going  on  in  China.  We  need  the  very  Word  of  God,  and 
there  must  be  much  study  and  care  placed  upon  this  line  of  work. 
So  there  is  urgent  need  for  the  best  talent  that  can  be  given  to  the 
work.  There  is  work  along  a  variety  of  lines  which  calls  for  men  of 
distinctly  this  character  and  this  sort  of  fitness. 

Have  you  high  intellectual  talent  ?  Have  you  literary  tastes  ?  Where 
is  there  a  broader  field  anywhere  than  among  the  vast  multitudes  of 
these  needy  men  of  China  and  in  the  Church  of  Christ  which  is  now 
growing  with  these  rapid  strides  ? 

The  Educator's  Opportunity. 

The  Rev.  A.  P.  Happer,  D.D.,  said :  — 

The  opportunity  for  the  Christian  educator  in  China  or  any  place 
else  will  be  very  much  in  accordance  with  any  one's  estimate  of  what 
the  province  of  an  educator  is  in  every  country.  And  your  idea  of 
what  an  educator  in  China  is  will  depend  upon  what  your  conception 
of  a  Christian  educator  in  this  country  is. 

Now,  then,  the  opportunity  in  China,  first,  is  that  there  are  people 
to  be  educated.  If  ever  you  go  to  China  or  India  and  have  to  cross 
the  ocean,  when  you  go  on  the  upper  deck  of  the  steamer  and  look 
out,  what  do  you  see  all  around  you?  A  waste  of  waters.  And  if 
you  ever  land  in  China  and  go  into  the  interior,  wherever  you  go  you 
will  see  all  around  you  a  mass  of  population.  Taking  the  population 
of  China  at  300,000,000,  and  that  of  the  United  States  at  65,000,000, 


The  World's  Coxquest.  245 

there  is  one  college  to  943  of  the  population  in  America,  and  there  is 
one  student  in  China  to  every  150,000  population.  If  you  take  the 
number  of  students  that  are  in  academies  and  colleges  together,  there 
is  one  student  to  every  151  of  the  American  people.  And  if  you  -snll 
take  at  the  present  time  the  number  of  Chinese  youth  that  are  in 
Christian  schools  under  missionaries  of  some  grade, —  don't  confound 
them  with  colleges,  but  common  schools,  Christian  schools  of  any  and 
every  grade, —  there  is  one  child  in  school  to  5,000  of  the  population. 
You  see,  then,  the  opportunit}^  for  the  Christian  educator  in  China  in 
regard  to  the  number  of  the  people. 

Then,  what  other  opportunities  are  there?  Secondly,  there  is  a  v' 
desire  on  the  part  of  people  of  China  to  be  educated  by  the  Western 
men,  by  missionaries.  Thirdly,  there  is  no  country  in  the  world  where 
education  is  more  highly  appreciated  or  educated  people  have  more  in- 
fluence than  they  have  in  China.  Fourthly,  there  is  no  other  heathen 
land  where  the  facilities  given  by  those  in  authority  to  those  that  have 
an  education  are  so  great.  You  don't  aj^preciate  that ;  but  when  you 
come  to  see  your  converts,  and  others  that  profess  Christianity,  M"ith 
no  means  of  employment  that  will  give  them  a  suj^port,  you  will  un- 
derstand the  value  of  the  openings  by  which  educated  men  may  be  able 
to  support  themselves  in  respectability,  and  in  the  observance  of  theu- 
Christian  duty.  The  Chinese  government  has  opened  three  services 
freely  to  Christian  educated  converts.  These  are :  The  customs  serv- 
ice, in  which  there  are  several  thousands  of  educated  and  trained  men 
in  employment ;  and  they  can  keep  the  Sabbath  in  that  profession :  for 
the  Chinese,  though  a  heathen  nation,  in  all  their  customs  offices  ob- 
serve the  Christian  Sabbath.  Secondly,  the  telegraph  service  is  all  open 
to  converts  that  have  an  education  ;  and  they  keep  the  Sabbath.  The 
Chinese  government  has  said  to  the  Christian  University  in  Pekin, 
under  our  Methodist  brethren,  "  Your  pupils  may  be  employed  and 
they  may  keep  the  Sabbath  in  the  service."  Thinily,  the  medical  service 
in  the  army  and  the  navy  is  open  to  them.  And  last  fall,  when  they 
commenced  the  construction  of  a  building  for  a  medical  institution  in 
the  city  of  Tien-tsin,  under  the  direction  of  the  Bismarck  of  China, 
Li  Hung  Chang,  he  sent  down  to  Shanghai,  in  the  place  where 
Christian  education  has  been  most  observed,  and  gathered  up  a 
dozen  young  men  who  had  had  an  English  education  to  come  and  be 
students  of  medicine  in  this  new  college.  They  have  a  Torpedo  Serv- 
ice College  in  Tien-tsin,  and  they  are  taken  there.  And  so  I  say  in  the 
Chinese  service  there  is  an  opening  for  Christian  young  men. 

Now,  remark  this :  in  no  country  can  the  Christian  Church  have  / 
control  of  the  complete  education  of  the  people  until  they  have  in  theii-  / 
hands   the   sources    of  education  for  the  higher  schools  in  every  de-l 
partment  of  life,  professional  and  secular,  or  whatever  it  may  be.     I' 


246  The  World's  Conquest. 

remarked  before  that  tliere  was  no  country  in  the  world  where  the  edu- 
cated man  had  such  influence  as  in  China.  The  educated  men  are  the 
ruling  class  in  China.  No  man  can  be  appointed  to  any  civil  oflice  in 
China  except  those  who  are  literary  graduates ;  and  the  number  of  this 
literary  class  in  China,  that  are  virtually  the  rulers  of  China,  is  from  two 
and  a  half  to  three  millions.  They  constitute  those  wlio  have  obtained 
one  or  more  of  the  four  literary  degrees  that  are  conferred  there; 
those  that  are  in  oftice,  the  ofiicials  of  the  empire ;  those  that  have 
obtained  degrees  and  yet  have  not  been  appointed  to  oflice ;  and 
those  who  are  in  attendance  upon  examinations  where  they  receive 
degrees.  Those  having  not  yet  obtained  degrees  are  the  teachers  of 
all  the  schools  in  China.  They  support  themselves  whilst  they  are 
attending,  because  these  people  do  not  go  three  or  four  years  to  college 
and  then  graduate ;  but  these  people  that  attend  tbe  examinations  may 
attend  them  from  fifteen  years  old  to  seventy,  if  they  don't  obtain  the 
degree  before  that.  And  they  continue  to  attend  the  examinations,  and 
they  are  numbered  amongst  the  literati^  and  support  themselves  by 
teaching  in  the  common  schools.  They  are  ofiicers  of  government  or 
they  are  the  teachers  of  the  various  schools  in  the  countiy. 

Besides  these  common  schools  scattered  throughout  all  the  country 
there  are,  in  the  various  provincial  capitals,  sixty  colleges,  where  lectures 
on  the  Confucian  classics  and  instruction  in  political  philosophy  are  given. 
Besides  these  branches,  rhetoric,  which  comprehends  the  niceties  of 
Chinese  composition,  is  taught ;  an  important  subject  and  of  great  vir- 
tue :  for  by  it  they  obtain  their  degrees.  Their  examinations  are  not 
oral :  they  do  not  consist  in  answering  a  series  of  questions ;  but  their 
examinations  are  conducted  by  giving  the  candidates  a  subject  for 
a  thesis.  Now,  I  say  this  is  the  great  influential  class  in  China,  the 
ruling  class.  And  they  are  not  a  class  separate  by  themselves  :  they 
mingle  with  the  whole  body  of  the  community;  for  these  graduates 
are  taken  out  of  almost  every  clan  or  family  scattered  throughout  the 
whole  empire,  and  these  graduates  are  scattered  through  the  whole 
empire ;  and  these  literary  men  are  a  great  opposing  influence  to 
Christianity  in  China.  It  is  they  that  stir  up  the  outbreaks  against 
the  missionaries  and  their  work. 

And  now  what  say  we  to-day?  How  are  you  ever  to  take  that 
strong  citadel,  thus  manned  by  the  whole  company  of  two  and  a  half 
millions  of  the  most  influential  part  of  the  population  ?  You  have  all 
heard  of  what  was  known  as  the  Tai-Ping  Rebellion  in  China,  an  out- 
break against  the  Government  which  commenced  in  1850,  and  how  by 
a  001(2^  cVetat,  in  1853,  that  insurrectionary  band  got  possession  of  the 
strongest  hold  in  China  by  coming  very  unexpectedly  upon  the  city  of 
Nanking,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Yang-tse-Kiang,  the  great  central  river- 
way  of  China.     They  obtained  possession  of  Nanking,  the  old  capital, 


The  World's  Conquest.  247 

one  of  the  strongest  walled  cities  of  China,  having  a  circular  wall  around 
it  of  twenty  miles  in  extent.  These  walls  are  fifty  feet  high  and  are 
thirty  feet  wide.  And  when  the  insurgents  got  possession  of  that, 
they  held  possession  for  twelve  long  years  against  all  the  arma- 
ment which  the  Chinese  Government  sent  against  them,  because 
they  had  a  citadel.  How  did  the  Government  at  last  obtain  possession 
of  that  stronghold  ?  They  did  a  feat  of  engineering  that  the  Northern 
army  could  not  do  against  Petersburgh  or  Richmond  during  the  attempt 
to  take  those  cities.  The  Chinese  Government  mined  under  the  walls 
of  that  stronghold.  They  planned  secretly  and  mined  extensively  and 
carried  in  their  powder,  and,  all  unknown,  undiscovered  by  the  insur- 
gent army,  they  held  possession  steadily ;  and  when  they  had  thus  pre- 
pared everything  they  fired  the  mine  and  some  one  hundred  or  one 
hundred  and  fifty  yards  of  the  extent  of  the  walls  of  that  citadel  fell 
down,  and  the  government  troops  were  able  to  rush  in  and  take  pos- 
session of  the  city.  Now,  if  Christianity  ever  takes  the  citadel  of  China, 
it  will  be  by  undermining,  by  our  schools  and  colleges  and  a  Christian 
education,  the  system  of  education  and  institutions  of  China,  and  taking 
it  by  the  fall  of  the  walls  of  their  own  education. 

The  Opportunity  for  the  Evangelist  in  China. 

The  Rev.  J.  Hudson  Taylor  said :  — 

Our  Master  could  not  stay  in  heaven  and  leave  you  and  me  out. 
That  wonderful  heaven  to  which  we  look  forAvard  was  not  heaven  to 
Him,  if  I  may  reverently  use  the  expression,  while  poor  sinful  man  was 
far  from  God.  And  He  is  going  to  give  His  people  the  privilege  of 
sharing  with  Him  in  the  work  of  bringing  souls  to  Christ.  Not  to  a 
certain  class,  but  to  every  one  of  the  children  of  God,  has  He  given  the 
privilege  of  being  fellow- workers  together  with  God. 

Remembering  the  word  that  I  have  heard  this  afternoon,  we  are 
not  only  to  go  where  we  are  needed,  but  where  we  are  needed  most. 
Surely  in  China  there  is  a  very  great  need  indeed.  Much  as  I  love 
China  and  long  for  it,  I  am  not  quite  sure  that  that  is  the  place  where 
there  is  the  greatest  need ;  I  fancy  it  is  to  be  found  in  this  great  conti- 
nent. I  fancy  there  is  a  greater  need  in  South  America  than  there  is 
in  China ;  not  that  the  population  is  as  large,  but  that  the  proportion  of 
laborers  is  very  much  smaller  in  South  America.  And  there  is  a  tre- 
mendous need  in  Africa  too :  there  the  degradation  of  the  people  is 
very,  very  great,  and  the  saviours  of  the  people  are  very,  very  few. 
And  there  is  a  very  great  need  elsewhere  in  Asia.  But  with  all  this 
reservation,  there  is  in  China  a  very  especial  claim ;  for  there  is  in  the 
Chinese  character  that  which  makes  a  man,  when  he  is  thoroughly 


248  The  World's  Conquest. 

converted,  an  evangelist  himself.  I  don't  think  you  can  go  to  any  part 
of  the  world  where  you  can  find  a  man  or  woman  who  is  thoroughly 
converted  who  will  more  instinctively  and  naturally  begin  to  win  souls 
for  Christ  than  in  China. 

I  have  traveled  a  good  deal  myself  in  China  and  nothing  has 
impressed  me  more  than  the  immense  number  of  towns  and  villages. 
If  you  can  get  on  an  eminence  and  look  around  you,  and  have 
with  you  an  intelligent  Chinaman  who  knows  the  country,  he  can 
point  out  and  give  you  the  names  of  numberless  towns  and  villages. 
There  are  many  provinces  pf  China  in  which  I  have  never  stepped  foot, 
and  I  do  not  say  that  all  over  the  country  the  density  of  the  population 
is  the  same.  The  sparsely  populated  parts  of  the  country  I  have  been 
in,  I  would  almost  have  concluded  under  certain  circumstances  that 
there  were  no  people  at  all.  But  I  have  found  that  they  have  their 
market  towns  everywhere ;  and  if  you  go  into  one  of  these  mai'ket 
towns  on  another  day  than  market  day,  you  may  see  very  few  people 
there,  and  imagine  that  there  are  very  few  near  you.  But  let  market 
day  come,  and  perhaps  you  will  hardly  be  able  to  walk  through  the 
streets  for  the  pressure  of  the  crowd  around  you.  It  is  something 
marvellous  how  people  do  seem  to  come  from  nowhere  almost  and  col- 
lect together  on  the  market  days.  And  these  market  days  are  arranged 
systematically.  They  have  no  division  of  time  into  weeks,  but  you  will 
find  in  one  town  that  the  market  days  are  the  2d,  5th,  and  7th  days  of 
the  month,  the  12th,  15th,  and  18th,  the  22d,  25th,  and  28th;  and  on 
these  days  people  come  together  in  enormous  crowds.  Now,  you  could 
never  get  over  all  the  little  hamlets  these  people  come  from,  but  if  you 
go  to  this  place  on  market  day,  you  have  an  unparalleled  opportunity 
of  getting  people  from  many  districts.  And  I  could  imagine  there  are 
very  few  places  in  the  world  where  there  is  a  finer  scope  for  the  evan- 
gelist than  there  is  in  China. 

I  Tv^sh  I  could  give  you  some  idea  of  the  blessing  there  is  in  being 
engaged  in  this  work.  My  own  heart's  delight  is  in  evangelistic  work. 
There  is  nothing  more  delightful  than  to  see  the  interest  with  which 
the  j^eople  seize  the  Gospel.  I  was  standing  by  when  my  companion, 
an  evangelist,  was  preaching  on  the  parable  of  the  prodigal  son  once ; 
and  it  was  most  interesting  to  hear  the  comments  of  the  people  upon 
this  parable  as  it  was  gradually  unfolded  to  them.  When  the  charac- 
ter of  the  prodigal  son  was  spoken  of,  the  people  thought  he  was  a 
bad  fellow ;  there  was  no  doubt  about  that.  And  then  when  the  mis- 
sionary began  to  preach  of  his  determination  to  return  to  his  father, 
some  of  the  people  thought,  "  He  will  be  in  for  it  when  he  gets  home." 
But  when  they  heard  of  the  way  in  which  the  father  received  that 
prodigal  son,  some  of  the  people  said  in  my  hearing,  "  Oh,  there  are 
no  such  fathers  as  this  in  China."     And  I  am  afraid  there  is  a  sjood 


The  World's  Conquest.  249 

deal  of  trutli  in  it.  But,  thank  God,  we  have  gone  just  to  teach  these 
people  in  Cliina  that  there  is  such  a  Father  for  them.  And  it  is  such 
a  joy  to  do  it!  But,  dear  friends,  I  do  wish  to  impress  upon  you' 
that  there  are  unparalleled  opportunities  for  evangelistic  work  of  every 
possible  kind ;  and  that  most  successful  kind  of  work,  that  perhajis  is 
not  quite  so  pleasing  to  the  flesh  as  having  a  large  congregation  before 
one,  the  talking  to  ones  and  twos  by  the  wayside  —  this  is  a  very  fruitful 
source  of  labor.  May  many  of  you  go  and  prove  it;  and  you  will 
find  that,  as  with  the  disciples  of  old,  who  were  commissioned  to 
distribute  the  bread  and  the  fishes,  there  was  a  very  large  store  left 
for  the  distributors. 

Miss  Mar}'  IT.  Porter  said  :  — 

Do  you  remember  that  diagram  we  had  this  morning,  that  black 
sheet  with  one  white  spot  in  the  center  ?  My  friends,  that  does  not 
represent  the  thing  correctly.  It  may  as  to  the  amount ;  it  does  not  as 
to  the  distribution.  Take  that  white  spot  and  break  it  up  into  crumbs, 
throw  it  on  the  map,  and  you  have  the  way  the  Gospel  has  so  far 
reached  China.  Here  a  dot,  there  a  dot,  so  small  you  would  hardly 
see  it  in  the  mass,  but  yet  meaning  so  much.  We  ask  you,  many  of 
you,  to  go  and  help  scatter  a  little  leaven  of  the  white  on  the  great 
area  of  black. 

Miss  Gertrude  Howe,  of  the  Methodist  Mission,  said :  — 

We  have  been  asked  to  reflect  upon  some  of  those  soul-harrowing 
realities  in  the  lives  of  our  sisters  just  over  the  way.  No,  Miss  Guin- 
ness, we  cannot  do  it ;  it  woidd  crush  our  souls.  Only  the  infinite  pity 
of  our  Heavenly  Father  can  even  listen  to  those  midnight  moans  of  mill- 
ions of  Chinese  girls  throughout  the  greater  part  of  China,  as  they  press 
their  aching  feet  against  the  cold  walls  and  struggle  to  gain  some  mo- 
ment of  sleep  from  their  misery.  We  cannot  think  of  it.  But  we 
have  another  plan :  we  can  do  something ;  and  that  is  the  only  way 
out  of  it  that  I  knoAV.  And  so  it  has  been  asked  me,  "  What  do  you 
teach  Bible  women,  and  what  are  their  duties?"  But  I  am  not  going 
to  answer  the  question  at  all.  I  simply  invite  you,  young  sisters,  to  go 
to  China  and  find  out  something  to  teach  Bible  women,  and  you  will 
find  out  plenty  of  duties  for  them. 

Mr.  Brock,  of  the  Province  of  Gan-Hwuj^  said :  — 

I  would  like  to  call  the  attention  of  the  young  men  here  to  the  fact 
that  in  the  north  of  China  we  have  something  like  ten  millions  of  the 
Mohammedan  faith,  without  one  worker  who  sets  himself  to  reach  that 


250  The  World's  Conquest. 

class  in  particular.  And  at  the  great  conference  held  in  Shanghai  a 
few  3'ears  ago  the  question  was  asked  as  to  the  number  of  converts 
among  the  Mohammedans  in  China,  and  only  three  cases  could  be  men- 
tioned, and  two  were  sjjoken  of  as  doubtful  cases.  So  there  is  a  field 
wide  enough  for  anj^  worker.  You  may  think  that  the  sixteen  hun- 
dred missionaries  have  in  a  waj^^  grappled  with  all  the  work  and  there  is 
no  new  work  for  you.  There  are  ten  million  people,  who,  knowing 
God,  have  brought  God's  name  into  disrepute,  because  knowing  Him 
they  live  not  to  His  glory.  Not  only  do  they  need  evangelists,  but  also 
those  with  literary  tastes,  to  prepare  publications  that  we  may  scatter 
among  them. 

Mr.  Shimmen,  of  Honan,  said :  — 

The  difiiculty  in  answering  the  question  as  to  why  1  should  go  to 
China,  is  not  in  finding  an  answer,  but  rather  in  selecting  one  of  the 
many  answers  that  come  to  the  mind.  If  the  question  had  been,  "  Why 
should  I  not  go  to  China,"  then  we  might  have  room  for  thought  as  to 
the  answer.  If  Queen  Victoria  were  to  give  command  to  one  of  her 
regiments  to  go  to  India,  if  there  was  a  question  came  into  the  mind  of 
a  soldier,  it  would  not  be,  "  Why  should  I  go  ?  "  but,  "  Why  should  I 
not  go?"  One  reason  why  we  should  go  —  speaking  as  I  do  for  Can- 
ada, knowing  that  we  have  one  ordained  minister  for  every  seven  hun- 
dred people  —  one  reason  why  we  should  go  would  be  to  leave  room 
for  others  who  are  coming  after  us,  at  home,  so  that  they  may  have 
someone  to  preach  to. 

Prof,  Willis,  of  North  China,  of  the  Methodist  Board,  said  :  — 

We  are  brethren.  They  are  our  people,  our  family.  The  people 
are  possessed  of  the  same  sensitive  spirits,  and  they  are  subject  to  the 
same  sorrows,  are  oppressed  by  the  same  needs.  They  are  people  who, 
like  us,  are  in  bondage  to  the  law  of  sin  ;  are  hastening  on  to  the  throne 
of  judgment ;  have  been  redeemed  by  the  atoning  blood  of  Christ ;  are 
heirs  in  promise  of  the  same  immortality  and  of  the  same  heavenly  in- 
heritance, and  are  conditioned  by  the  same  law  of  faith.  How  can  they 
believe  in  Him  of  whom  they  have  not  heard,  and  how  can  they  hear 
without  a  preacher,  and  how  can  one  preach  except  he  be  sent  ?  What 
has  Christ  been  to  me  ?  That  is  what  Christ  would  be  to  my  Cliinese 
brother  and  my  Chinese  sister.  And  Christ  belongs  to  them,  and  we 
are  but  stewards  of  the  manifold  grace  of  God.  It  is  required  of  a 
steward  that  he  be  found  faithful.  Chinese  mothers  have  a  right  to 
know  that  God  cares  for  them  when  their  children  die,  and  to  know 
that  of  such  is  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  Chinese  men  and  women  have 
a  right  not  to  be  afraid  when  they  go  down  into  the  valley  of  the 


The  World's  Conquest.  251 

shadow  of  death :  they  have  a  right  to  know  that  lie  is  the  rock  upon 
which  they  may  build. 

Dr.  J.  A.  Leyenberger,  of  the  I'resbyterian  Mission  at  Shantung, 
said :  — 

I  am  asked  to  speak  of  the  value  of  the  services  of  the  native 
helper.  I  wish  to  take  this  occasion  to  express  my  appreciation  of  the 
labors  of  the  native  helpers ;  I  wish  to  bear  tribute  to  their  work.  I 
do  not  believe  there  is  a  missionary  who  has  been  associated  with  a 
native  helper  who  would  not  say  the  same  thing. 

By  native  helpers,  I  suppose,  is  meant  to  be  included  all  classes, 
whether  licentiates,  evangeUsts,  preachers,  or  colporteurs. 

I  was  much  struck  with  the  uniform  testimony  during  the  last  gen- 
eral conference  at  Shanghai  as  to  the  value  of  native  helpers  in  the 
work.  One  veteran  missionary  said,  "  I  am  more  and  more  convinced 
that  China  is  to  be  converted  by  the  Chinese." 

Another  venerable  and  experienced  brother  said,  "  We  shall  never 
bring  the  world  to  the  knowledge  of  Christ  through  the  instrumentality 
of  missionaries  imported  into  the  various  countries  of  the  earth."  One 
fact,  which  shows  the  high  value  we  placed  on  the  services  of  native 
helpers,  is  that  missionaries  of  all  denominations  use  them.  It  has  be- 
come an  axiom  with  the  Mission  Boards  that  mission  work  cannot  be 
carried  on  without  a  native  agency. 

I  wish  also  to  take  this  opportunity  to  express  my  own  high  personal 
estimate  of  the  labors  of  native  helpers.  Some  of  the  happiest  hours 
of  my  life  have  been  spent  in  association  with  these  noble  and  self- 
denying  men  ;  and  I  esteem  it  a  great  pleasure  to  pay  this  tribute  to 
their  worth.  In  doing  this,  I  think,  I  only  express  the  views  of  all 
missionaries.  Our  helpers  are  bound  to  us  by  the  closest  possible  ties. 
If  the  work  prospers,  as  it  surely  will,  when  faithfully,  earnestly  and 
prayerfully  prosecuted,  they  enter  into  our  joys ;  if  the  defection  of 
some  of  whom  we  had  high  hopes  causes  sorrow  and  despondency,  they 
share  our  griefs,  and  sympathize  in  our  disaj^poiritments. 

And  just  here  I  may  say  that  if  the  missionai-y  is  a  strong  charac- 
ter, if  he  is  a  man  of  power,  this  close  union  in  prosecuting  the  Lord's 
work  gives  an  unrivalled  opportunity  to  mould  and  fashion  the  char- 
acter of  the  helper.  So  closely  does  the  native  brother  identify  him- 
self Avith  his  foreign  companion  and  teacher,  that  instances  have  been 
known  in  which  the  peculiaiities  of  speech  and  even  the  intonations 
have  been  copied. 

This  puts  a  fearful  responsibility  on  the  missionary.  He  ought  to 
be  a  perfect  man,  or  as  near  to  a  perfect  standard  as  it  is  possible  to 
attain ;    for   there   is   a   strong    probability,    amounting   almost   to    a 


252  The  World's  Conquest. 

certainty,  that  his  faults,  if  he  has  any,  will  be  coj^ied  as  well  as  his 
excellencies.  If  he  is  a  man  of  high  character,  if  he  has  the  qualifi- 
cations of  the  ideal  missionary,  if  he  is  such  a  one  that  he  can  say,  as 
did  one  of  old,  "Be  ye  imitators  of  me,"  then  his  is  the  grandest 
opportunity  to  reproduce  himself  in  his  helpers,  and  thus  multiply  his 
influence.  It  is  not  only  his  privilege  but  his  duty  to  do  so.  Paul  had 
his  Aristarchus  and  his  Secundus,  his  Tychicus  and  his  Timothy,  and 
who  can  imagine  the  delightful  communion  which  they  had  together 
as  they  prosecuted  the  Lord's  work,  "  enduring  hardness  as  good 
soldiers,"  and  who  can  estimate  the  extent  of  that  influence  which  the 
example  of  such  a  one  as  Paul  had  in  moulding  the  lives  and  charac- 
ters of  his  young  companions  ? 

But  all  that  has  been  said  above  does  not  by  any  means  exhaust  the 
value  of  the  native  helpers'  services.  Their  help  is  invaluable  in  solv- 
ing difiicult  and  perplexing  questions.  A  veteran  missionary  said, 
"  When  we  have  questions  of  difficulty  to  determine,  we  would  often 
take  their  judgment  in  preference  to  our  own."  These  difficult  ques- 
tions are  recurring  continually  in  our  mission  work,  and  they  tax  all 
our  wisdom  and  ingenuity  to  solve  them  aright.  The  native  helper 
of  course  understands  the  habits  and  customs  of  his  own  people  better 
than  we  do,  and  his  judgment  sometimes  seems  almost  intuitive  as  to 
the  best  method  of  solving  these  difficulties.  If  these  native  helpers 
are  men  of  ability,  their  assistance  is  all  the  more  valuable.  A  man's 
wisdom  is  shown  in  the  choice  of  his  helpers,  just  as  a  general's 
superior  sagacity  is  shown  in  the  selection  of  his  lieutenants.  When 
"these  native  helpers,  including  pastors,  elders,  and  evangelists,  are  suflli- 
ciently  numerous  to  form  a  j^resbytery  or  conference,  then  their  value 
becomes  very  great  indeed. 

Dr.  Baldwin,  of  Foochow,  said  :  — 

A  better  time  is  coming  in  China.  I  remember  an  old  city  in  the 
interior  where  I  had  hard  work  to  get  in,  and  where  they  called  me 
"  foreign  child"  and  "foreign  devil."  I  didn't  object  to  that  so  much 
as  I  did  to  what  they  proposed  to  do  with  me,  when  they  said,  "  Kill 
that  white  devil."  And  I  just  heard  from  there  that  after  a  three  daj'^s' 
meeting,  when  the  building  would  not  contain  the  many  who  came,  and 
they  had  to  organize  another  one  outside,  at  the  close  of  that  meeting 
they  received  one  hundred  new  members  into  the  Church.  I  believe 
such  scenes  will  multiply  all  over  China,  and  that  that  great  empire 
will  come  to  be  one  of  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord. 

Mr.  McArthur,  Sr.,  of  the  China  Inland  Mission,  said :  — 

Only  just  one  question  has  come  to  my  mind  that  I  would  like  to 
press  home  on  the  hearts  of  all  our  young  friends  gathered  here  this 


TiiK  World's  Conquest.  253 

afternoon.  If  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself  in  person  stood  here  and 
asked  you,  Avhat  could  you  honestly  say  to  Him  if  He  inquired  of  you 
what  you  had  done  for  the  salvation  of  the  thirty  thousand  who  pass 
into  His'^presence  each  day?  While  you  are  enjoying  these  blessings, 
and  thanking  God  for  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  they 
are  passing  aAvay  now  into  the  darkness  of  eternity  without  Christ. 
Beloved  friends,  if  you  cannot  go  to  China,  pray  more ;  and  until  we 
get  to  China  let  us  keep  on  praying;  for,  if  we  can  ask  anything  in  the 
name  of  Jesus,  we  can  ask  that  He  would  thrust  out  more  laborers. 
The  Lord' Himself  hath  said  it. 

Mrs.  J.  Hudson  Taylor  said  :  — 

I  would;  like  to  ask  you  all  to  begin  to  do  something  for  China 
to-day,  and  every  day,  and  that  you  will  every  one  of  you  deter- 
mine from  this  day  forth  to  pray  for  China  every  day,  and  to  ask 
God  every  day  to  show  you  what  He  wants  of  you  for  those  millions 
of  people.  We  had  a  prayer  union  for  the  women  in  England,  for 
women  who  went  to  work  for  Chinese  women  in  the  interior  of  China. 
If  God  wants  you  to  go  and  you  will  begin  to  pray  at  once,  then  He 
will  open  the  way  that  He  will  have  you  go.  If  yoii  will  just  deter- 
mine that  you  shall  have  fruit  in  China  whether  God  sends  you  there  or 
not,  you  will  have  fruit  if  you  will  ask  in  the  name  of  Jesus. 

The  Chairman  requested  those  students  present  who  had  been  led  to 
give  their  lives  to  China  to  rise.  The  count  of  those  standing  showed 
ninety-seven  people. 


JAPAN  AND  KOREA. 

Friday  Afternoon,  March  2,  1894. 
L.  H.  Roots,  Chairman. 

The  Kind  op  Men  Needed  for  the   Work  in  Japan,  and  the 
Preparation  for  It. 

A.  Oltmans,  Nagasaki,  South  Japan,  said  :  — 

Let  me  preface  my  remarks  on  the  subject  by  saying  that  the  pres- 
ent demand  for  foreign  missionaries  in  Jajjan  is  in  itself  decidedly 
limited.  This  ought  to  be,  not  a  matter  of  discouragement,  but  cause 
for  profound  gratitude  to  the  Lord  who  has  brought  the  work  in  Japan 
to  such  a  stage.  I  would  rather  see  five  hundred  volunteers  of  this 
Convention  go  to  China  than  fifty  to  Japan,  and  that  for  a  simple  arith- 
metical reason. 

As  for  the  kind  of  men  needed  in  Japan  :  Many  of  the  qualifica- 
tions mentioned  as  necessary  to  a  successful  missionary  are  applicable 
to  the  needs  in  Japan.  Such  are  easily  recognized  as  indispensable  to 
any  true  worker  for  Christ  in  any  field,  whether  at  home  or  abroad. 

A  good  deal  has  been  said  in  this  Convention  of  what  a  missionary 
to  the  foreign  field  wants.  By  way  of  variety,  and  yet  not  merely  for 
variety's  sake,  I  will  speak  first  of  what  a  missionary  to  Japan  does 
not  want ;  for  I  believe  and  know  that  there  is  a  negative  ^preparation 
as  needful  as  a  positive  one  —  that  there  are  quite  as  many  things  we 
are  apt  to  have  and  ought  not  to  have  as  there  are  things  we  ought  to 
have  and  are  apt  to  lack. 

In  the  first  place,  let  me  say  that  a  knowledge  of  mechanical  and 
culinary  arts,  of  medicine  and  surgery,  etc.,  is  far  less  important  in 
Japan  than  in  many  fields.  As  for  medical  missionaries,  speaking  in 
general,  they  are  not  needed  in  Japan.  While  we  recognize  with 
gratitude  the  valuable  labors  of  such  men  as  Dr.  McDonald,  of  the 


The   Wokld's  Conquest.  255 

Canadian  Methodist  Mission  at  Tokyo,  Dr.  Berry,  at  Kyoto,  and  Dr. 
Taylor,  at  Osaka,  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F'.  M.,  these  men  themselves  will 
testify  that  such  work  is  exceptional,  and  the  need  of  it  very  limited 
indeed. 

Secondly,  we  do  not  want  missionaries  in  Japan  of  a  nervous  tem- 
perament. This  is  professional  counsel  borrowed  from  men  competent 
to  speak  on  the  subject  and  backed  by  experience  too  numerous  to 
mention.  And  along  with  this,  we  deprecate  the  coming  of  missionary 
men,  and  especially  women,  that  are  given  to  that  fatal  vice,  viorry. 
"  It  is  not  overwork, but  worry,"  says  Dr.  Berry,  of  Kyoto,  "that breaks 
down  so  many  missionaries."  If  you  must  worry  through  your  life, 
worry  it  out  here ;  you  will  have  larger  time  for  it  than  in  Japan. 

Thirdly,  do  not  come  to  Japan  with  preconceived  ideas  of  methods 
of  work.  Mark  you,  I  do  not  say  qualifications  for  work,  but  methods 
of  tcork.  If  you  do,  you  will  surely  be  disappointed.  It  nia}^  not  seem 
very  charitable  or  courteous,  but  nevertheless  I  would  rather  take  the 
wind  out  of  your  sails  before  you  start  than  to  see  you  go  full  sail  in 
your  preconceived  methods  of  work,  expecting  to  hasten  into  the  harbor 
of  glorious  and  astounding  success,  and  finding  after  you  get  there  that 
you  have  to  tack  and  tack  and  re-tack,  and  finally  to  haul  down  all  sail, 
with  considerable  desj^ondency  depicted  on  your  faces  and  discourage- 
ment in  your  hearts. 

Fourthly,  we  do  not  want  consjnciiOKS  generalship  of  foreign  mis- 
sionaries in  Japan.  Please  mark  the  word  conspicuous.  A  good  deal 
has  been  said  at  the  Convention  about  the  missionaries  being  generals, 
and  needing  to  be  such.  If  you  come  to  Japan  as  a  missionary,  a  very 
important  question  is :  Can  3'ou  be  a  general  without  letting  people 
know  that  you  are  such.  In  armies,  we  want  leading  generals ;  in  mis- 
sion work  in  Japan,  we  want  foUoioinff  generals.  The  terra  may  seem 
contradictory;  it  is  not  such  by  any  means.  The  Japanese  are  very 
jealous  of  their  own  influence  and  leadership.  This  is  especially  the 
case  at  present  while  the  reactionary  wave  of  foreign  relations  is  pass- 
ing over  our  land.  And  many  of  us  believe  that  the  day  of  foreign 
leadership  in  Japan  is  past.  As  far  as  this  is  the  result  of  the  success- 
ful raising  up  by  the  Holy  Ghost  of  native  preachers  and  evangelists 
who  are  competent  not  only  to  take  care  of  their  own  churches  and 
Christian  communities,  but  also  to  take  the  lead  in  nearly  all  the  de- 
partments of  Christian  work,  Ave  recognize  and  hail  it  with  devout 
gratitude  to  God.  Where  the  native  can  lead,  vje  do  not  Avant  to  lead. 
When  the  native  is  qualified  to  be  a  general,  a  foreign  missionary  must 
be  willing  to  act  as  his  aide-de-camp.  While  it  is  necessary,  by  reason 
of  the  policy  of  most  mission  boards,  to  supervise  the  expenditure  of 
foreign  money, —  there  is,  by  the  waj^,  too  much  foreign  money  in  Japan, 
—  even  this  is  greatly  resented  by  many  leading  Japanese  Christians, 


256  The  World's  Conquest. 

and  hence  must  be  done,  not  with  <an  air  of  a  general  paymaster,  but  with 
exceeding  care  and  deUcacy.  We  have  taught  the  Japanese  Church  to 
put  its  hand  quite  deep  and  freely  into  the  foreign  pocketbook.  Now, 
while  they  Avant  to  keep  their  hand  there,  because  they  need  our  finan- 
cial aid,  they  want  to  get  it  and  spend  it  without  oiu-  saying  anj-thing 
concerning  the  way  they  are  to  expend  it.  Could  you  stand  such  a 
thing  without  growing  restive  under  it  ?  In  a  word,  can  you  rule  by 
serving  ?  If  not,  I  would  advise  you  not  to  go  to  Japan  as  a  mis- 
sionary. 

Fifthly,  we  do  not  want  skeptically  inclined  missionaries  in  Japan. 
This  may  be  true  on  every  mission  field ;  it  is  intensely  true  in  Japan. 
There  is  skepticism  enough  already,  altogether  too  much ;  and  if  ever 
there  should  arise  a  lack  of  it  there  are  plenty  of  sources  of  supply  aside 
from  missionaries  of  Jesus  Christ.  If  you  have  doubts  as  to  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  ^ohole  Bible  or  any  parts  of  it,  if  you  are  fond  of  preaching 
advanced  theology,  or  that  misnomer  Higher  Criticism,  or  anything  else 
but  Christ  and  Him  crucified,  I  see  heights  of  human  honor  for  you  in 
this  land  of  itching  ears,  but,  I  pray  you,  do  not  come  to  Japan.  If  you 
must  analyze  a  sweet  promise  of  God,  word,  stem,  leaves,  corolla, 
stamens,  and  pistil,  before  you  can  get  at  the  aroma  of  the  flower,  do  it 
here  where  you  have  leisure  while  others  do  the  real  work,  but  not  in 
Japan,  or  in  any  other  mission  field  where  hundreds  and  thousands  are 
daily  dying  about  you  without  knowing  the  sweetness  of  standing  in 
the  garden  of  roses  of  God's  Word  and  of  being  filled  with  the  sweet- 
ness of  His  presence. 

Then,  if  Ave  do  not  want  this,  nor  that,  nor  the  other  thing,  in  Japan, 
what  do  we  want  ?  Let  me  condense  this  positive  demand  in  as  few 
words  as  possible.  It  will  answer,  I  think,  whether  you  go  into  the 
educational  or  evangelistic  part  of  the  work.  As  much  need  as  there 
still  is  of  missionaries  in  Japan,  we  want  practical,  earnest,  whole- 
souled,  devoted,  Christ-insijired,  Holy-Ghost-filled  men  and  women, 
that  will  teach  and  preach  by  word  and  life  the  all-sufliciency  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  Saviour  of  men  and  the  Redeemer  from  sin ;  men  and 
women  that  will  count  it  all  joy  to  do  even  the  least  part  of  missionary 
work ;  to  be  servants,  even  of  those  whom  they  are  trying  to  lead  into 
the  light ;  to  maintain  with  unflinching  courage  and  loving  persistence 
the  right  of  Christ  to  reign  over  the  hearts  and  lives  of  Japanese  to 
the  exclusion  of  boasted  self-sufticiency,  and  everything  that  is  dear 
to  the  natural  heart  of  man.  There  is  danger,  especially  in  Japan,  of 
lowering  the  demand  of  Christ  upon  the  individual ;  danger  of  mis- 
taking gilded  etiquette  for  genuine  morality ;  danger  of  having  the 
outward  form  of  hollow  politeness  foisted  upon  one  for  honest  good- 
Avill  to  the  cause  of  Christ.  In  order  to  avoid  all  these  dangers,  there 
is  need  of  insisting  upon  down-right  heart  piety  and  unmistakable  life 


Thk  Wokld's  Conquest.  257 

purity ;  and  the  strongest  way  of  insisting  upon  it,  the  most  successful 
way  of  seeing  it  reproduced  among  the  native  Japanese  converts,  yes, 
the  only  way,  is  to  produce  it  first  of  all  in  your  own  inner  and  outer 
life.     It  is  spiritual  religion  that  Japan  wants. 

But  I  must  not  conclude  my  remarks  without  stating  that  the  need 
of  women  evangelists  in  Japan  to-day  is  far  greater  than  that  of  men. 
There  are  many  and  wide  doors  of  usefulness  all  through  the  country 
for  the  women  who  will  go  into  the  homes  of  these  friendly  and  polite 
Japanese  to  tell  the  sweet  story  of  Jesus  and  His  love.  And  to  these 
belong  also  the  training  of  native  women  for  such  work.  A  few 
bright  and  noble  examples  of  this  self-denjdng  missionary  labor  we 
have,  but  there  is  ample  room  and  crying  need  for  more.  The  homes 
in  Japan,  as  in  every  other  land,  are  the  centers  of  social,  moral,  and  re- 
ligious influences.  And  there  is  a  sad  and  almost  utter  lack  in  these 
homes  of  such  principles  and  mothers  as  can  alone  make  the  home  the 
cradle  of  God's  Kingdom.  I  have  heard  this  tearfully  confessed  by 
one  of  the  leading  ministers  of  Japan,  after  his  visit  to  these  United 
States  and  his  knowledge  here  acquired  of  what  a  Christiam  home  can 
and  ought  to  be. 

And  now,  in  closing,  how  can  the  volunteer  prepare  himself 
for  mission  work  in  Japan  ?  The  answer  lies,  or  ought  at  least 
to  lie,  in  what  I  have  already  said  about  the  disqualifications  and  the 
qualifications.  I  would,  however,  further  say,  inform  yourself  about 
Japan — the  country,  the  people,  the  history,  their  condition,  the  mis- 
sionary work  already  done  there  and  which  is  now  going  on.  The 
Japanese  will  have  no  respect  for  you  if  you  show  yourself  an  ignor- 
amus concerning  these  things.  They  look  upon  that  country,  of  course, 
as  great  in  every  respect,  and  if  they  should  find  out  or  suspect  that 
yoii  do  not  consider  it  worth  your  while  to  know  as  much  about  it  as 
possible,  always  keeping  yourself  in  readiness  to  be  by  them  better  in- 
fonned,  why  you  might  almost  as  well  pack  up  and  go  back.  And 
your  efforts  to  learn  things  about  the  Japanese  need  in  no  wise  be  a 
mere  sham  for  the  sake  of  conciliation.  Japan  is  an  interesting  coun- 
try, and  her  people  are  an  interesting  people  —  worth  saving  for  their 
own  sake,  as  every  man,  woman  and  child  of  Adam's  race  is,  but  also 
worth  saving  for  the  influence  they  maj^  have  upon  the  evangelization 
of  the  East,  and  the  speedy  bringing  down  of  Jesus  the  King  in  our 
midst. 

The  Present  Crisis  in  Japanese  Missions. 

The  Rev.  George  W.  Knox,  D.D.,  said :  — 

The  present  crisis  in  missions  is  very  uninteresting.  We  used  to 
talk  about  the  "  crisis  in  Japan "  until  the  secretaries  of  the  Boards 


258  The  World's  Conquest. 

became  tired  of  the  sound  of  the  words.  The  crisis  which  I  speak  of 
to-day  is  very  different.  The  missionaries  in  Japan  for  a  great  many 
years  said  to  the  home  Church,  "  What  you  are  doing  must  be  done 
at  once."  And  they  were  quite  correct  when  they  said  that.  And  on 
the  whole  the  Church  responded  nobly  to  the  call. 

At  present  the  crisis  is  a  totally  different  crisis.  There  has  gone 
out  from  Japan  this  report,  that  the  work  is  greatly  threatened,  and 
that  there  has  come  now  a  time  to  call  a  halt.  I  want  to  explain  that. 
It  is  an  important  issue  for  any  person  who  is  looking  at  Japan  in  a 
practical  way.  "Anti-Foreign  Reaction  "  is  not  the  proper  term  to  use 
of  the  state  of  things  in  Ja^^an,  though  there  is  a  great  political  move- 
ment which  takes  on  somewhat  of  the  aspect  of  an  anti-foreign  reac- 
tion. I  will  have  to  talk  politics  to  you  a  little  while  to  explain  just 
what  that  position  is,  and  to  show  how  the  missionary  and  the  foreign 
work  are  bound  up  in  it. 

For  a  thousand  years  there  has  been  a  great  quarrel  between  the 
East  and  the  West.  A  general  from  the  East  conquered  all  Japan ; 
and  tor  nearly  three  hundi-ed  years  West  Japan  was  under  the  domin- 
ion of  East  Japan.  In  1867  and  1868  that  was  reversed;  and  the 
rebellion  which  gave  back  the  emperor  his  ancient  power,  and  made 
him  an  emperor  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name,  was  a  revolt  of  the  West 
against  the  East.  Three  provinces  from  the  West  changed  the  name 
of  Yeddo  to  Tokyo ;  and  Japan  is  now  governed  by  an  oligarchy, 
representing  two  of  those  three  Western  clans.  This  oligarchy  controls 
the  army,  the  navy,  the  police  (which  is  like  a  second  armj^),  the 
judiciary,  all  the  great  banks,  all  the  great  commercial  enterprises 
and  the  national  system  of  education  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  whole  power 
of  Japan  is  centered  in  Satsuma  and  one  other  clan.  But  three  or 
four  years  ago  a  new  constitution  was  given  and  a  parliament  was 
established,  and  ever  since  there  has  been  the  most  acute  political 
crisis.  The  Lower  House  is  composed  of  men  from  every  part  of 
Japan.  One  principle  guides  them  —  overthrow  the  present  ministry. 
The  Lower  House  is  determined  to  force  the  ministry  to  be  dependent 
upon  the  Lower  House.  Instead  of  the  German  system,  they  will 
have  the  English  system.  But  the  ministry  holds  everything,  except- 
ing a  certain  limited  power  given  to  the  Diet.  The  Diet  can  overthrow 
the  ministry  only  by  determined  opposition.  The  consequence  is  a 
dead-lock,  which  has  lasted  already  for  two  or  three  years.  The 
political  parties  are  seeking  for  any  means  whatever  to  overturn  the 
present  ministry ;  and  the  most  convenient  means  which  they  have 
found  within  the  last  few  months  has  been  the  cry  for  the  revision  of 
the  treaties  with  foreign  j^owers.  And  that  brings  on  what  we  call 
just  now  the  "  Anti-Foreign  Relations." 


The  World's  Conquest.  259 

You  all  know  that  foreigners  living  in  Japan  are  not  subject  to  its 
laws.  If  I  go  to  Japanjand  kill  a  Japanese,  no  Japanese  judge  can 
put  any  sentence  upon  me.  I  must  be  tried  by  an  American  consul  in 
the  city  of  Yokohama.  If  I  go  to  Japan  as  a  merchant,  and  in  a 
transaction  defraud  a  Japanese,  no  Japanese  can  sue  me  in  any  Japan- 
ese court  in  the  whole  empire.  He  must  go  down  to  Yokohama,  and 
sue  me  before  an  American  consul.  This  holds  true  in  respect  to  all 
other  nations,  so  that  in  the  city  of  Yokohama  are  sixteen  nationalities 
exercising  sovereign  powers  over  the  different  citizens  of  those  differ- 
ent states.  That  law  was  put  into  effect  thii-ty  years  ago  by  the  first 
treaties  that  were  made,  and  it  was  justifiable  at  that  time.  The  whole 
Jaj)anese  conception  of  law  was  so  opposed  to  ours  that  no  American 
or  Englishman  could  have  lived  under  it.  No  Japanese  objected  to 
the  system  tliirtj^  years  ago.  On  those  same  grounds  extra- territoriaUty 
exists  in  Turkey  and  in  every  Asiatic  country.  Twenty  years  ago, 
when  the  Japanese  came  more  into  contact  with  American  institutions, 
they  found  that  they  had  accepted  a  stigma  upon  their  national  civili- 
zation ;  they  found  that  they  had  allowed  themselves  to  be  placed  in 
company  with  barbarous  nations.  Japan  finally  went  to  work  and 
changed  its  laws ;  it  changed  its  criminal  code  from  beginning  to  end, 
and  introduced  a  system  based  ujjon  the  French  code.  It  has  now  re- 
vised its  civil  code.  It  has  established  law  schools  in  connection  with 
its  universities.  Its  judges  have  been  trained  in  those  schools.  It  has 
many  men  who  have  been  trained  in  the  schools  of  German}^,  the 
United  States,  and  France.  I  will  not,  of  course,  pretend  to  say  that 
the  Japanese  system  is  equal  to  the  American,  but  it  has  vastly  im- 
proved. Now,  what  Japan  says  is  this :  "  It  is  absurd  that  rights 
should  be  kept  from  us  which  you  grant  to  eveiy  one  of  the  South 
American  countries,  and  that  we,  having  done  all  this,  shoixld  still  be 
forbidden  our  sovereign  rights  in  our  own  empire."  Up  to  three  or 
four  years  ago,  it  was  impossible  for  the  Japanese  to  get  the  treaties 
revised,  and  the  consequence  is  that  we  are  still  under  the  old  system. 
Just  at  present  that  is  not  our  fault.  So  far  as  I  know,  the  entire 
missionary  body  in  Japan  were  in  favor  of  the  revision  years 
ago. 

However,  the  question  has  gone  into  party  politics,  and  although 
the  United  States,  Gei'many,  and  Russia,  and,  I  think.  Great  Britain  are 
ready  to  revise  the  treaties,  the  Japanese  cannot  bring  the  matter  to  a 
conclusion. 

How  does  that  affect  the  missionary?  Very  materially.  The 
treaties  give  us  the  right  to  live  only  in  six  different  ports.  Even  in 
those  cities  we  can  live  only  in  sjjecified  districts.  No  foreigner  has 
any  i-ight  to  live  in  Tokyo  except  in  a  region  that  is  no  bigger  than 
two  squares  in   Detroit.     We  have  no  right  to  travel  in  Japan  more 


260  The  World's  Conquest. 

than  twenty  miles  from  these  little  concessions  placed  in  these  differ- 
ent cities.  So  far  as  Tokyo  is  concerned,  in  one  direction  one  can  only 
travel  about  four  miles.  Our  rights  under  the  treaties  are  very  narrow, 
but  the  Japanese  government  has  greatly  widened  our  privileges.  It 
has  introduced  various  systems  by  which  foreigners,  and  especially  mis- 
sionaries, have  been  permitted  to  go  to  almost  every  city  in  Japan  and 
get  houses  and  live  there.  Foreigners  are  able  to  get  pass-j^orts  to 
travel  just  where  they  please.  It  happens  that  at  the  present  time 
three-fourths  of  all  the  missionaries  in  Japan  are  living  outside  of  any 
place  where  they  have  a  right  to  be  under  the  treaties,  and  are  living 
entirely  by  the  grace  of  the  Japanese  government  in  these  interior 
towns.  Almost  all  of  the  evangelistic  work  which  is  carried  on  by 
missionaries  to-day  is  also  by  the  mere  grace  of  the  Japanese  govern- 
ment, which  has  so  extended  its  privileges  to  us. 

The  "  Anti-Foreign  Reaction "  is  not  anti-missionary  nor  anti- 
Christian.  It  is  purely  political.  It  is  purely  a  question  of  statecraft. 
It  is  almost  wholly  a  handle  which  the  opposition  have  seized  to  over- 
turn the  present  ministry.  If  the  oj^position  (who  say,  enforce  the 
treaties,  or  revise  them)  have  their  way  and  the  treaties  are  enforced, 
three-quarters  of  the  missionaries  will  have  no  houses  to  live  in.  I  do 
not  know  what  they  will  do.  If  the  House  of  Commons  has  its  own 
way,  I  don't  see  anything  to  be  done  but  to  engage  passage  and  give 
the  missionaries  a  vacation.  But  really  I  do  not  believe  that  it  is  any- 
thing more  than  a  little  cloud  which  will  soon  pass  away.  It  may  be 
very  disagreeable,  however,  while  it  lasts. 

There  is  another  crisis  in  Japan  more  serious.  That  is  the  very 
result  of  the  success  of  our  work.  A  great  many  young  men  go  to 
Japan  and  are  bitterly  disappointed.  You  have  heard  here  at  the 
meetings  men  stand  up  and  say  that  the  missionary  goes  as  a  leader. 
When  he  goes  to  Japan  he  has  the  hardest  task  he  ever  found  to  be  a 
leader.  The  first  converts  in  Japan  were  young  men,  and  almost  all  of 
those  have  now  become  ministers.  Some  of  them  have  been  in  the 
ministry  ten  or  twelve  or  more  years.  They  have  got  a  hold  on  the 
Church.  They  are  very  well  trained  in  their  theolog}^  They  read  ev- 
erything. Some  of  them  spend  every  dollar  they  can  spare  in  getting 
books.  The  Japanese  ministry  read,  and  the  Japanese  ministry  study, 
and  they  have  been  at  it  seventeen  years.  They  know  their  own  people 
perfectly.  You  will  find,  too,  some  men  who  have  been  graduated  in 
our  American  theological  schools.  And  some  who  have  traveled 
through  Europe  and  America  with  very  intelligent  minds.  These  Jap- 
anese are  ready  to  assert  themselves.  A  young  missionary  begins  to 
preach  after  two  years.  He  stumbles  along.  It  is  a  very  meager  ut- 
terance, and  the  facts  do  not  come  out  very  clearly;  and  the  people  are 
not  half  so  much  interested  in  foreigners  as  they  used'to  be.     He 


The  World's  Conquest.  261 

cannot  accomplish  much  until  he  can  talk  fluently.  The  fact  that  he 
is  a  foreigner  will  not  keep  the  people  listening  to  him  while  he  has  so 
much  to  say  which  they  cannot  understand.  Compared  with  the 
native  minister,  he  is  at  a  grave  disadvantage. 

The  missionary  who  goes  to  Japan  now  goes  just  in  that  transition 
stage  when  the  missionary  has  become  less  and  less,  until  he  seems  to 
be  vanishing  away,  and  the  native  ministry  seem  to  fill  the  whole  field. 
The  young  man  who  goes  to  Japan  now  and  who  expects  to  win  a 
large  field  may  win  it,  provided  he  has  the  necessary  qualities  to  im- 
press himself  upon  spiritually  minded  men,  and  provided  he  has  j^lenty 
of  patience  to  wait  ten  years  before  he  gets  it. 

In  my  opinion,  we  ought  to  have  missionaries  in  Japan  for  another 
ten  or  fifteen  years.  I  do  not  think  any  of  us  really  feel  that  the  time 
has  come  when  we  can  withdraw  our  missionary  force  with  safety. 
We  may  be  obliged  to  withdraw,  but  I  do  not  believe  we  shall  be. 
Now,  for  a  man  who  can  lead,  who  has  patience,  who  has  faith,  who  has 
health,  who  can  go  to  Japan  and  wait,  and  take  young  men  and  train 
them  up  into  the  ministry  —  for  men  who  can  be  specialists  at  home, 
and  who  can  be  specialists  in  Japan,  there  is  still  in  Japan  a  field  for  a 
limited  number  of  such  men.  That  is  the  state  of  things  in  Japan, 
and  that  is  the  crisis  as  it  now  appears. 

Evangelistic  Work  ix  Japax. 

Dr.  John  W.  Saunby,  of  the  Canadian  Methodist  Mission,  said :  — 

My  talk  will  be  divided  into  two  points.  First,  no  educationaUst 
who  is  not  a  propei'ly  quaUfied  evangelist  has  any  future  before  him  in 
Japan  ;  I  mean  in  connection  with  our  mission  work.  Secondly,  no 
evangelist  who  has  not  all  the  qualifications  of  an  educationalist  can 
find  anything  but  a  very  narrow  sphere  of  usefulness  in  that  land. 

Now,  as  to  tliat  first  proposition  as  to  the  educationalist  who  is  not 
a  properly  qualified  evangelist :  We  must  remember,  in  the  first  place, 
that  in  .Japan  we  are  not  dealing  with  aborigines,  or  with  barbarians,  or 
with  paupers.  We  are  dealing  with  a  civilized  people  and  people  who 
have  money  enough  to  educate  themselves.  At  the  beginning,  of 
course,  they  needed  help,  which  they  employed  by  engaging  from 
America  men  to  come  and  teach  in  their  universities,  and  also  in  the 
higher  middle  schools  through  the  empire.  The  foreigners  are  being 
eliminated,  so  that  very  quickly  the  whole  educational  work  of  Japan 
will  be  in  the  hands  of  the  Japanese ;  so  that  we  as  missionaries  are  not 
called  to  secular  education.  But  we  must  have  theological  professors. 
And  let  me  say  this  :  I  believe  that  the  work  of  theological  professors 
will  be  the  most  permanent  in  Japan.    After  the  last  evangelist  has  left 


262  The  World's  Conquest. 

the  coi;ntiy,  there  will  be  yet  the  theological  teacher.  But  I  hold  this, 
from  the  experience  I  have  had  in  Japan,  that  no  man  who  has  not 
been  trained  on  the  field  as  an  evangelist  has  any  place  in  oiir  theolog- 
ical system.  For  two  reasons :  First,  he  must  acquire  the  language. 
There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  teaching  done  through  English,  but 
from  thorough  inquiry,  and  esjjecially  from  Dr.  Knox,  I  have  become 
fully  convinced  that  our  best  teaching  is  done  in  the  vernacular. 

Very  few  foreigners  in  Japan  have  learned  the  language  while 
teaching  the  schools.  The  burden  is  so  great,  the  prej^aration  of  their 
lectures  and  everj'thing  of  that  kind  is  so  great,  that  they  have  not 
time  for  a  systematic  study  of  the  language.  There  may  be  cases  of 
gifted  men  who  have  done  both,  but  I  think  they  are  the  exception 
and  not  the  rule.  And  many  a  man  who  has  had  it  in  his  heart  to 
learn  the  language  has  been  so  tied  to  the  school  that  he  has  never  got 
the  language,  and  has  not  been  the  j^ower  that  he  woiild  have  been. 

Another  reason  :  His  business  is  to  train  those  men  to  be  successful 
soul- winners,  and  in  order  to  teach  them  that  work  he  must  have  been 
among  them  as  an  evangelist.  He  cannot  know  the  people,  he  cannot 
know  the  needs  of  the  work ;  and  the  biggest  mistake  that  has  ever 
been  made  is  in  putting  into  our  theological  schools  in  Japan  men  that 
have  come  fresh  from  America,  and  have  not  knowm  the  needs  of  the 
work.  I  believe  the  best  work  in  Japan  will  be  done  by  the  men  Avho 
have  a  thorough  evangelistic  sjDirit,  and  who  have  had  actual  experience 
on  the  field.  And,  therefore,  if  there  is  any  J^oung  man  here  who  is 
thinking  of  going  to  Japan  as  an  educationalist,  if  he  does  not  take 
hold  of  it  in  this  country,  do  not  let  him  think  of  going  to  Japan. 
And  if  you  have  not  the  qualifications  of  an  evangehst,  I  believe  there 
is  no  future  for  you  in  that  land. 

Now,  the  second  proposition  :  No  evangelist  who  has  not  all  of  the 
qualifications  of  an  educationalist  can  find  anything  but  a  very  narrow 
sphere  of  usefulness  in  that  land.  We  have  heard  so  often  in  this  Con- 
vention that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  model  missionary.  I  had  to  go  to 
Japan  to  learn  how  it  was.  I  have  come  to  a  higher  conception  of  Him 
as  a  missionary  through  my  work  in  that  land.  See  the  work  of  Jesus 
Christ  when  He  was  here  on  the  earth !  He  never  formed  a  church. 
The  work  of  Jesus  Christ  on  the  earth  was  the  gatherino-  together  of 
the  hungry  men,  men  seeking  after  the  truth,  and  teaching  them,  as  it 
Avere  taking  the  rough  material  and  the  rough  stones  and  fitting  them 
for  the  temple  that  was  to  be.  And  then  jow  remember  that  when 
He  got  the  stones  fashioned  He  said,  "  It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go 
away :  for  if  I  go  not  aw%ay,  the  Comforter  will  not  come."  There  is  a 
lesson  for  us  in  work  in  Japan.  No  man  must  go  tofJapan  feeling 
that  he  is  making  a  nest  for  himself,  as  it  were,  for  life.  He  must  go 
as  John  the  Baptist,  with   the  feeling  in  his  heart,  "  he  must  increase, 


The  World's  Conquest.  263 

but  T  must  decrease,"  as  he  looks  at  the  Japanese.  And  the  very- 
work  that  we  are  doing  in  that  country  to-day  is  just  ending  our  career 
in  Japan,  and  ending  it  very  fast.  It  is  our  work  to  gather  these 
hungry  fellows  around  us.  And  just  think  of  this !  Do  not  get 
the  idea  into  3'our  heads  that  all  heathen  are  essentially  bad.  It  is 
not  so.  There  are  thousands  of  men  in  that  country  that  are  just 
as  earnest  in  seeking  after  the  truth  as  we  are,  who  have  chosen  the 
right  just  as  much  as  we  have  chosen  the  right,  and  who  are  searching 
in  the  darkness,  groping  in  the  darkness  "  if  haply  they  may  feel  after 
Him  and  find  Him."  And  God  always  sends  those  men ;  and  those 
men  we  gather  around  us  to  form  the  church  that  is  to  be,  and  that 
church  is  only  formed  when  the  missionary  has  withdrawn,  and  when 
the  Holy  Spirit  comes  down  upon  the  Japanese  Church. 

I  want  to  point  now  to  two  kinds  of  evangelistic  work  which  are 
going  on  in  Japan,  and  in  this  sense  Chi-ist  is  the  model.  First,  the 
preaching  in  the  street,  and  Christ  did  that.  And  whom  did  He  get 
hold  of  in  those  talks  ?  The  fallen  woman,  the  blind  man,  the  beggar, 
and  the  lame  man.  You  may  say,  if  there  is  a  place  where  a  man  may 
not  need  education  it  is  there,  isn't  it  ?  I  believe  a  man  must  be  a 
qualified  teacher  even  there.  Why  ?  You  are  working  among  a  strange 
people.  You  must  get  to  know  them  —  the  influences,  the  factors  that 
go  to  make  up  their  character.  You  have  got  to  know  the  religions, 
the  philosophy,  the  prevailing  moral  maxims  of  the  people.  And  no 
man  can  thoroughly  work  among  that  people  except  he  knows  their 
religions.  And  another  thing,  do  not  get  into  your  head  the  idea  that 
all  heathen  religions  are  essentially  bad.  There  are  fine  moral  teachings 
right  there  in  Japan,  so  high,  I  believe,  that  no  man  out  of  Christ  can 
live  up  to  them ;  and  we  must  understand  those  religions,  and  under- 
stand the  influence  of  those  religions  upon  the  people,  or  we  cannot 
do  the  work  which  God  has  sent  us  to  do. 

And,  secondly,  we  must  get  more  of  the  religious  conceiDtions  of 
the  people ;  and  no  man  who  is  not  thoroughly  trained  will  be  able  to 
do  that.  And  just  to  give  you  one  little  fact  that  came  to  mj  personal 
experience.  When  out  in  the  interior,  I  saw  the  people  flocking  to  me 
so  thickly  and  so  earnestly,  and  I  thought,  "  These  people  will  become 
Christians  very  quickly."  But  I  found  when  they  all  went  away  that 
it  was  different.  They  had  no  idea  of  one  religion  as  the  only  true  one. 
They  have  the  idea  that  there  may  be  two,  three,  four,  or  five  re- 
ligions, and  all  may  be  right.  Christianit}'^  is  one  of  the  hardest  relig- 
ions to  propagate,  though  it  is  the  only  religion  that  brings  help  to  the 
human  heart.  So  even  there  we  need  the  trained  mind  in  order  to  get 
hold  of  these  things  and  to  be  able  fully  to  understand  and  sjTupathize 
with  the  people. 


264  The  World's  Conquest. 

Nicodemiis  coming  to  Jesiis  by  night  is  a  very  familiar  type  in 
Japan  ;  for  there  are  hundreds,  yes  thousands,  of  thoughtful  men  who 
won't  enter  a  church,  but  who  will  talk  freely  with  you  about  the  great 
question  of  eternal  life,  when  they  can  get  you  off  somewhere  alone. 
They  slip  into  your  homes,  and  when  they  have  come  two  or  three 
times  their  earnest  questions  reveal  the  motive  of  their  coming.  Just 
in  this  quiet  way  I  have  known  men  convinced  and  saved.  Now,  when 
Nicodemus  comes,  he  does  not  want  to  find  a  man  who  has  not  thought 
through  these  things  carefully. 

Then  there  is  the  training.  God  gives  us  men  for  the  ministry. 
Wherever  we  go  to  work  God  gives  us  men  for  the  ministry,  and  it  is 
the  evangelist  on  the  field  that  must  train  those  men.  And  they  are 
thinking  fellows.  And  their  questions  are  intensely  practical  and  far- 
reaching,  and  the  man  who  cannot  answer  those  questions  at  once  drops 
out  of  respect  and  is  of  no  more  use.  These  ideas  of  Higher  Criticism, 
and  one  thousand  and  one  things  come  to  these  men  ;  and  the  mission- 
ary must  stand  as  a  light-house,  and  they  look  to  him  in  the  time  of 
storm.     In  darkness,  they  look  to  him  for  light. 

What  kind  of  men  do  we  want  for  Japan  ? 

Christ-like  men.  Christ-like  in  what  sense?  I  cannot  take  all  the 
range.  We  have  had  the  fullness  of  the  Holy  Spirit  emphasized 
already.  Don't  think  that  when  you  get  to  the  mission  field  you  are 
going  to  become  jjious.  To-day  we  do  have  our  troubles  among  the 
missionaries,  and  where  do  they  arise  ?  They  arise  from  selfishness. 
If  you  have  that  "  spirit  of  selfishness,"  as  one  has  said,  if  j^ou  want 
to  make  a  name  for  yourself,  for  God's  sake  keej)  out  of  the  mission 
field.  Then  again  the  missionary  must  be  a  reader  of  character. 
Christ  knew  what  was  in  the  mind.  He  was  the  Divine  Son  of  God, 
and  he  could  read  the  character ;  and  oh,  one  of  the  most  essential 
qualifications  is  to  be  able  to  see  right  into  the  character,  and  under- 
stand the  man  thoroughly.  The  missionary  must  also  be  a  leader  —  a 
man  who  can  lead  men.  And,  fourthly,  we  want  a  man  who  is  seek- 
ing to  know  Christ  better.  Don't  we  want  a  man  who  has  found 
truth  ?  No,  if  has  found  truth,  and  is  satisfied,  we  don't  want  him. 
We  want  the  seeker  after  truth  ;  and  where  is  the  man  who  can  say 
in  regard  to  it,  "  Eureka  ?  "  We  want  the  seeker  because  he  is  in  the 
struggle,  and  when  he  comes  to  a  man  who  is  struggling,  he  feels  sym- 
pathy. We  do  not  want  truth  measured  by  the  yard-stick.  The  true 
seeker,  led  by  the  Holy  Spii-it,  will  make  his  own  road  for  himself,  and 
they  are  the  men  who  can  take  hold  of  these  thinking,  earnest  fellows, 
and  lead  them  to  Christ. 


The  World's  Coxquest,  265 

Features  of  the  Korean  Field. 

Rev.  F.  Ohlinger  said  :  — 

Lest  I  should,  for  want  of  time,  fail  in  saying  all  I  desire,  I  wall 
begin  by  giving  what  I  consider  one  of  the  greatest  encouragements  I 
can  think  of  at  present,  namely,  the  help  Korea  has  received  from 
neighboring  fields. 

The  first  Protestant  converts  among  the  Koreans  were  made  in 
Pekin  and  Moukden.  The  first  Pi-otestant  mission  in  Korea  was 
founded  by  Tiong  A.  Hok,  a  Christian  merchant  of  Foochow,  who 
founded  the  first  college  (Anglo-Chinese)  in  China.  The  first  crumbs 
of  the  Bread  of  Life  were  brought  to  the  Koreans  from  China  and 
Japan.  In  both  empires,  faithful  and  reasonably  successful  attempts  had 
been  made  to  i3ut  the  Scriptures,  the  smaller  catechism,  and  other 
tracts  into  the  Korean  vernacular,  several  years  before  the  first  mis- 
sionarj'^  set  foot  on  Korean  shores. 

In  translating  the  Holy  Scriptures,  we  have  before  us  for  reference 
and  help  eight  Chinese  classic  and  vernacular  versions,  and  one  Japan- 
ese version.  "We  have  now  in  Korea  a  score  or  more  of  the  best 
tracts  ever  written  and  circulated  in  China.  Long  before  we  had  sufli- 
cient  command  of  the  language  to  translate,  we  set  educated  Koreans 
to  work  translating  from  the  Chinese,  and  we  now  have  such  tracts  as 
the  "  Temple  Keepers,"  "  The  Two  Friends,"  Mrs.  Nevius'  catechism 
(for  several  years  the  banner  tract  in  China),  and  nearly  all  of  Dr. 
Grifiith  John's  valuable  books,  sheets,  and  leaflets.  Here  is  an  old 
stand-by,  "  The  Three  Character  Classic,"  with  the  Korean  translation 
and  reading.  The  Mongolian  people  all  have  a  "  Three  Character 
Classic "  as  their  first  schoolbook,  beginning  with  the  sentence,  "  In 
the  beginning  was  heaven  and  earth."  I  came  into  a  Korean  village, 
and  saw  indications  of  a  readiness  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  buy 
my  books.  But  I  soon  discovered  the  village  school  teacher  frowning 
upon  those  who  were  examining  my  stock.  I  passed  on,  and  the 
teacher  and  his  pupils  returned  to  then-  room.  It  now  turned  out 
that  one  of  the  boys  had  after  all  bought  a  book,  a  copy  of  our 
Christian  "  Three  Character  Classic."  Presently  six  boys  came  running 
after  me,  and  bought  all  the  copies  of  it  I  had.  How  my  heart  went 
up  in  prayer  as  I  thought  of  those  six  lads  reading  this  admirable 
book  to  their  parents  and  friends,  instead  of  "  The  Eternity  of  Matter : 
The  Eternity  of  The  Creator." 

In  establishing  the  Christian  press  in  Korea,  I  purchased  my  ma- 
chinery and  my  Korean  tyj^e  from  Christian  Japanese  tyjie-founders 
and  printers  in  Yokohama.  Then,  finding  that  Korean  mulberry  bark 
paper  was  too  expensive,  I  sent  to  my  friend  Dr.  Sia  Sek  Ong,  of 
Foochow,  for  ray  first  supply  of  printing  paper. 


266  The  World's  Conquest. 

In  Korea  we  have  to  deal  with  a  people  that  is  almost  without  a 
religion.  I  do  not  say  that  this  will  prove  either  an  advantage  or  a 
disadvantage  to  the  work,  but  simply  state  the  fact.  In  India  religion 
is  a  mania,  in  China  a  problem  in  domestic  economy,  in  Japan  a  fad,  in 
Korea  an  accident.  In  India  it  raves,  in  China  it  respects  the  multipli- 
cation table,  in  Japan  it  rants,  and  in  Korea  it  has  a  holiday.  There 
are  but  seven  temples  worthy  the  name  in  the  country.  There  are  no 
temples  in  the  capital,  and  priests  are  not  allowed  to  come  inside  the 
city  gates. 

The  Koreans  are  a  j^eople  almost  without  the  trammels  of  social 
customs.  I  state  the  fact,  but  cannot  take  time  to  draw  conclusions. 
It  does  not  matter  where  you  plant  yourself  after  creeping  into  the 
room  through  the  paper  window,  nor  how  you  sit;  only  if  you  sit 
"  tailor  fashion  "  you  will  be  taken  to  be  illiterate,  while  if  you  kneel 
you  will  be  taken  to  be  a  scholar  and  a  follower  of  Confucius.  But 
you  must  mind  your  words.  It  is  all  in  the  syllables  you  tack  on  the 
root-idea  of  your  word. 

In  regard  to  the  ear  required  to  learn  the  language,  I  should  at 
least  say  that  everyone  who  goes  to  Korea  ought  to  be  able  to  sing  the 
long  metre  doxology,  if  not  more.  I  have  seen  missionaries  who 
couldn't  do  that,  but  they  never  learned  the  language.  They  ought  at 
least  to  have  grappled  with  one  foreign  language,  German  or  French. 
The  language  is  in  many  respects  simple,  if  it  were  not  for  innumer- 
able moods  of  the  verb  and  the  confusing  and  needless  use  of  the 
conjunction.  You  might  take  a  book,  and,  according  to  the  Korean 
laws  of  language,  write  it  all  without  coming  to  a  period  until  you 
had  finished,  always  ending  up  with  a  conjunction.  A  Korean  will 
talk  to  you  for  hours  without  coming  to  a  point. 

Woman's  Work  in  Japan. 

Miss  Hannah  Lund  said  :  — 

You  all  know  the  proverb  about  the  "  hand  that  rocks  the  cradle," 
and  the  same  applies  in  Japan  as  applies  here,  and  the  fact  is  that 
woman  alone  can  reach  woman  there  in  the  way  that  will  best  forward 
the  work.  I  want  to  speak  for  a  few  moments  of  the  evangelistic 
work  and  the  workers.  The  work  takes  us  into  the  homes,  into  the 
Sabbath  schools,  in  connection  with  each  one  of  our  churches  wherever 
we  have  a  church  established,  and  throughout  all  the  country  wherever 
we  can  find  a  home  or  a  woman  who  will  take  from  us  religious 
literature. 

Where  do  we  get  our  workers  ?  First,  they  come  from  our  girls' 
schools,  those  who  have  become   Christians  and  whose  life  work  will 


The  AVorld's  Conquest.  267 

not  permit  tbem  to  take  a  college  course,  even  if  they  were  able  to  do 
it;  but  who,  because  of  their  experience  and  because  of  their  fitness  for 
this  work,  and  because  of  a  desire  expressed  of  entering  into  it,  we 
feel  must  receive  some  training.  These  come  to  us,  and  are  trained 
either  in  Bible  schools  or  Bible  classes  especially  carried  on  for  the 
purpose  of  training  women  workers.  Thus  they  go  out  and  carry  the 
Gospel  to  the  homes  of  women.  You  will  scarcely  be  able  to  realize 
what  a  visit  to  some  of  the  homes  of  these  poor  people  will  accomplish. 
I  have  gone  into  homes  where  the  first  question  was,  "  Wh}^,  how  could 
you  come  into  this  poor  little  hole  ?  "  Homes  of  the  poor,  real  poor, 
and  in  some  cases  the  question  was  very  applicable.  Then  that  would 
open  the  way  for  telling  them  the  story  of  Christ.  And  another  thing 
that  helps  us  to  go  into  homes :  They  do  not  understand  how  we 
women  can  leave  our  homes  and  come  to  that  country  where  we  have 
no  friends.  And  they  will  ask  us  how  we  get  the  courage  to  do  it. 
For  a  woman  to  travel  about  alone  or  go  any  distance  from  home  is 
counted  rather  out  of  the  ordinary,  and  that  will  give  us  another 
chance  for  telling  the  story  of  the  Gospel. 

Coming  to  the  Sunday  schools  are  little  childi-en  who  run  away 
from  home  to  get  there,  and  often  they  will  carry  news  home  that 
leads  the  parents  to  ask  questions.  And  these  parents  will  come  to  our 
churches,  or  ^^erhaps  they  will  invite  the  Bible  women  to  go,  and  after 
awhile  the  Christian  missionary  is  invited  to  go.  But  it  is  always  best 
to  let  the  Japanese  Bible  woman  find  her  way  there  first. 

I  was  in  Japan  between  five  and  six  years.  My  work  was  almost 
wholly  among  the  women,  and  training  Bible  women,  and  twice  it  was 
my  privilege  to  go  through  the  country,  and  I  could  not  help  thinking, 
as  I  sat  here,  of  the  great  curiosity  that  foreign  women  excite.  I  vis- 
ited village  after  village  in  company  with  a  native  pastor  and  the  Bible 
woman,  and  the  place  would  be  crowded  with  the  doors  thrown  open 
front  and  back,  at  our  meeting  places.  They  had  come  to  see  the  for- 
eign woman.  If  I  had  not  been  able  to  do  anything  else  but  just  sit 
there  and  let  them  look  at  me,  I  helped  the  pastor  and  the  Bible  woman 
to  reach  more  souls  than  they  might  have  reached  for  many  a  day. 
One  cannot  estimate  the  results  of  that  work.  It  is  an  opportunity  of 
doing  work  for  God,  and  was  to  me  the  greatest  joy  of  all  my  life. 

My  mind  goes  back  to  one  old  lady  who  traveled  with  me  on  one 
occasion.  She  was  not  much  of  a  speaker,  but  her  face  and  the  little 
testimony  she  could  give  did  more  for  God  than  words  of  great  elo- 
quence could  have  done.  That  woman  did  not  hear  of  Christ  until  she 
was  fifty-eight  years  old. 


268  The  World's  Conquest. 

Girls'    Schools. 

Miss  Gertrude  Bigelow  said :  — 

On  the  mission  field  we  women  heavily  outnumber  the  men.  If  it 
were  not  for  the  girls'  schools,  Japan  could  not  be  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity. The  women  of  Japan  are  more  conservative  than  the  men. 
The  strongest  Buddhists  are  among  the  old  women.  If  we  have  the 
young  girls  in  the  boarding  schools  away  from  the  home  influences,  we 
find  that  they  are  quite  easy  to  reach.  They  are  quite  different  from 
the  young  men.  They  are  not  fond  of  argument.  They  have  been 
brought  up  to  think  that  they  are  decidedly  inferior.  They  are  more 
willing,  hence,  to  receive  instruction.  In  the  first  boarding  school  es- 
tablished, we  have  never  graduated  a  girl  that  was  not  a  professing 
Christian.  The  boarding  schools  are  the  greatest  help  to  the  church. 
The  girls  know  all  the  hymns.  That  is  a  very  important  item.  They 
help  in  many  ways  in  the  Sunday  school.  In  Tokyo,  the  elders  of  oiir 
missionary  Sunday  schools  are  always  coming  to  the  girls'  school  to  get 
some  one  to  teach,  to  lead  singing,  and  to  play  the  organ.  In  most  of 
the  country  churches  there  are  more  men  than  women,  except  in  places 
where  the  girls'  schools  are.  There  the  reverse  is  true.  We  have 
more  schools  for  girls  in  Japan  than  for  boys,  because  the  Japanese 
have  very  good  schools  for  boys,  but  they  neglect  the  girls.  In  some 
of  the  large  cities  they  have  good  schools  for  girls,  but  in  most  districts 
they  do  not.  They  used  to  have  a  girls'  department  in  the  normal 
school,  but  it  was  closed  last  year.  The  reason  was  that  they  thought 
it  was  useless.  For  some  time  it  was  quite  a  fad  to  educate  the  women  ; 
but  so  long  as  the  Japanese  man  considers  his  wife  either  a  drudge  or  a 
toy,  of  course  it  is  not  necessary  to  educate  her.  If  she  were  educated 
he  could  not  treat  her  as  a  drudge  or  as  a  plaything.  The  wives  of 
those  men  who  know  English  and  know  all  the  latest  opinions  con- 
cerning scientific  matters,  must  walk  in  the  rear  a  little  on  their  walk- 
ing tours.  The  reason  is  that  the  women  are  not  educated.  They  do 
not  take  an  interest  in  things  in  which  their  husbands  are  interested. 
Last  year  my  neighbor  was  a  member  of  Parliament,  and  his  wife  did 
not  know  anything  about  those  things  that  were  going  on  in  Par- 
liament. She  did  not  care  to  know  anything  about  them.  We  are 
trying  to  educate  young  women  who  shall  be  intelligent  wives  for  our 
pastors  for  the  coming  generation  in  Japan,  who  will  know  how  to 
bring  up  the  children.  Then,  also,  these  girls  that  come  out  of  our 
schools  are  feeders  for  the  public  schools.  I  was  away  over  on  the 
west  coast  last  year  where  we  had  an  evangelist  who  had  to  carry  on 
the  work  himself.  He  said  he  could  not  carry  on  a  Sunday  school 
without  a  woman  to  help  him.     The  men  don't  knoAv  how  to  teach  in 


The  World's  Conquest.  269 

Sunday  schools.     If  we  get  hold  of  the  young  girls  we  are  sure  of  the 
next  generation. 

Discussion. 

Question.  What  are  the  best  books  for  a  volunteer  who  wants  to 
learn  the  needs  of  Japan  or  Korea  ? 

Anstcer.  (By  Dr.  Knox).  Rhine's  .Japan,  2  vols.,  is  a  very  thor- 
ough book.  A  cheaper  work  than  that,  and  also  a  pretty  full  work,  is 
the  "  Mikado's  Empire,"  by  Dr.  Griffiths.  That  would  doubtless  be 
written  differently  now  after  twenty  years.  "  An  American  Missionary 
in  Japan,"  by  Dr.  Gordon,  Kyoto,  is  an  admii-able  book. 

Question.  Is  a  full  college  education  needed  by  women  evangel- 
ists in  Japan  ? 

Ansicer.  It  is  a  very  great  help  to  them.  I  cannot  say  that  it  is 
absolutely  needed.     I  should  advise  by  all  manner  of  means  to  get  it. 

Question.  What  line  of  qualification  is  most  essential  as  to  the 
educator  in  Japan  ? 

Answer.  It  depends  entirely  upon  where  you  are  going.  There  is 
a  great  range  there.  More  and  more  men  are  wanted  as  specialists 
more  than  anything  else.  If  you  are  going  to  teach  the  English 
language,  understand  how  to  teach  the  English  language  to  a  foreigner. 

Qtiestion.     Has  Japan  been  thoroughly  evangelized? 

Ansicer.     By  no  manner  of  means  :  not  one  city  in  it. 


INDIA. 

Friday  Afternoon,  March  2,  1894. 

Mr.  L.  D.  Wishard,  Chairman, 

The  Chairman  led  the  devotional  exercises,  and  read  the  second 
Psalm. 

Work  Among  the  Depressed  Classes. 

The  Rev.  W.  B.  Boggs,  D.D.,  said :  — 

There  is  nothing  specially  meritorious  in  laboring  for  the  depressed 
classes.  There  is  nothing  in  itself  more  attractive  or  pleasant  in  labor- 
ing among  them  or  for  them  than  in  working  for  the  higher  classes. 
But  it  is  a  fact  that  the  depressed  classes  are  generally  much  more 
accessible  to  the  Gospel  than  the  higher  classes  are ;  and  thus  mission- 
aries are  led,  by  the  force  of  circumstances,  or  rather  by  the  providence 
of  God,  into  this  line  of  work. 

The  greatest  successes  of  Christianity  in  India,  as  far  as  numbers 
are  concerned,  have  been  among  the  depressed  classes.  The  great 
ingatherings  of  converts  in  recent  years,  in  the  Church  Mission  at 
Tinnevelly  and  other  places  in  the  extreme  south,  in  the  American 
Baptist  Mission  in  the  Nellore,  Krishna,  and  Kurnool  Districts,  in  the 
American  Lutheran  Mission  in  the  Krishna  District,  in  the  American 
Methodist  Mission  in  the  north  of  India,  and  also  in  various  other 
missions  in  a  smaller  degree,  have  been  very  largely  from  these  classes. 

In  working  among  the  depressed  classes  we  follow  in  the  footsteps 
of  Christ  Himself.  While  not  neglecting  to  declare  the  truths  of  His 
Gospel  to  the  Pharisees  and  doctors  of  the  law,  the  rich,  the  learned, 
and  the  aristocratic,  lie  was  evermore  ready  to  mingle  with  the  lowly, 
to  open  the  treasures  of  His  teaching.  His  sympathy,  and  His  healing 
to  the  poor  and  depressed.  "  When  He  saw  the  multitudes  He  was 
moved  with  compassion  on  them,  because  they  fainted,  and  were  scat- 
tered abroad  as  sheep  having  no  shepherd."     "  Then  drew  near  unto 


The  World's  Conquest.  271 

Him  all  the  publicans  and  sinners  for  to  hear  Hira."  "  The  common 
people  heard  Ilim  gladly."  He  earned  for  Himself  the  epithet,  "friend 
of  publicans  and  sinners."  In  the  synagogue  at  Nazareth,  the  pro- 
phetic passage  which  He  read  from  Isaiah  61,  and  which  He  declared 
was  fulfilled  .then  and  there  in  Himself,  shows  that  "to  preach  the 
Gospel  to  the  poor"  was  one  of  the  great  works  for  which  He  was 
endued  with  the  Holy  Spirit.  And  in  the  list  of  proofs  of  His  Mes- 
siahship,  which  He  sent  back  by  the  messengers  of  John,  a  climax 
seems  to  be  reached  when  He  says,  "the  poor  have  the  Gospel  preached 
to  them."  This  is  just  what  is  j^redicted  for  Him  in  the  seventy-sec- 
ond Psalm :  the  poor  and  needy  and  "  he  that  hath  no  helper  "  were 
to  be  the  special  objects  of  His  grace  and  mercy. 

And  evidently  much  of  the  work  of  the  apostles  was  of  this  kind. 
Paul  reminds  the  Corinthians  (I.  Cor.  1 :  26-29)  that  not  many  wise, 
not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble  are  called,  but  God  chose  the  fool- 
ish things,  and  the  weak,  and  the  base,  and  the  despised,  and  even  the 
things  which  are  not.  And  James  says  (James  2 :  5),  "  Hath  not  God 
chosen  the  poor  of  this  world  rich  in  faith,  and  heirs  of  the  Kingdom 
which  He  hath  promised  to  them  that  love  Him." 

And  this  work  is  also  directly  in  the  line  indicated  by  Christian 
history.  It  has  been  thus,  more  or  less,  in  every  country  where 
Christianitj^  has  prevailed.  In  the  Roman  Empire,  at  the  first,  it  was 
chiefly  the  slaves,  the  artisans,  the  peasants,  the  soldiers  who  embraced 
Christ  and  His  salvation. 

And  further,  this  is  according  to  the  analogy  of  nature  :  if  a  pyramid 
is  to  be  built  the  workmen  do  not  begin  at  the  apex,  but  at  the  base ; 
if  we  wish  to  boil  a  vessel  of  water  the  fire  is  placed,  not  at  the  top,  but 
at  the  bottom,  and  the  lower  particles  of  water  become  heated  first. 

Work  among  the  depressed  classes  has  some  great  advantages.  In 
the  first  place,  we  do  not  have  to  contend  with  pride  of  birth,  which  is 
such  an  unpleasantly  prominent  feature  in  the  caste  people,  and  also 
such  a  hindrance  to  their  acceptance  of  Christ.  Nor  is  there  pride  of 
position.  A  Hindu  of  the  upper  classes  feels  so  satisfied  with  his  good 
position,  and  it  may  be  with  his  fat  salary,  that  he  naturally  feels  no 
need  of  a  helper  or  comforter.  The  poor  non-caste  man  has  nothing 
of  this  kind  to  stand  between  him  and  Christ.  Nor  has  he  any  pride 
of  learning,  by  which  men  of  the  higher  grades  are  so  puffed  up.  The 
self-sufliciency  of  a  Hindu  Avho  knows  Sanscrit  and  English  fills  him  to 
overflowing.  He  cannot  believe  that  he  is  a  needy  sinner.  And  further, 
the  depressed  classes  are  so  low  down  that  for  the  most  part  the}^  are 
not  inflated  T\dth  pride  of  religion. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  there  are  serious  disadvantages  to  be  met 
with  in  work  among  the  depressed  classes.  There  is  the  mental  dull- 
ness and  feebleness  of  many  of  them.     Their  minds,  having  never  been 


272  The  World's  Conquest. 

exercised,  except  in  the  narroAV  range  of  the  common  things  that  per- 
tain to  their  poor,  beggarly,  everyday  life,  have  become  torpid  and  en- 
feebled; and  most  of  them  live  in  depths  of  ignorance  well-nigh 
incredible.  As  to  their  own  country,  beyond  a  few  miles  aronnd  their 
own  village,  and  as  to  the  world  in  general,  the}?-  may  be  said  to  know 
nothing.  The  history  of  other  nations  and  of  past  ages,  science,  litera- 
ture, all  these  are  almost  a  total  blank  to  them.  There  is  another  great 
disadvantage,  namely  :  want  of  moral  backbone  or  character  ;  so  little 
independence  of  thought  and  purpose ;  so  little  firmness ;  they  are  so 
like  children,  so  credulous,  so  timid,  so  unstable.  And,  added  to  all 
this,  is  their  deep  poverty.  This  tends  to  physical  feebleness  and 
mental  depression  and  a  craven  spirit.  While  a  certain  degree  of  pov- 
erty may  be  conducive  to  robustness,  extreme  penury  enfeebles  a  race. 

But  the  fact  that  these  classes  are  so  depressed  makes  the  triumphs 
of  God's  grace  in  their  salvation  all  the  more  glorious.  For  many  of 
these  poor  people  do  truly  believe  the  glad  tidings  and  embrace  Christ, 
and  experience  the  change  that  is  involved  in  this.  They  lift  up  their 
heads  with  a  new  hope,  and  become  happy  in  the  assurance  that  God 
is  their  Father. 

There  is,  of  course,  always  more  or  less  danger  of  such  poor,  down- 
trodden, ignorant  people  being  influenced  by  unworthy  motives  in  em- 
bracing Christianity,  and  hence  great  caution  is  always  needed  to  test 
them  carefully,  and  ascertain,  as  far  as  possible,  their  real  motives. 
Whether  they  are  sincere  or  not,  unfriendly  critics  will  always  be 
ready  to  attribute  to  them  the  most  worldly  of  motives. 

There  is  great  joy  and  satisfaction  to  be  found  in  mission  work 
among  these  classes.  Thej^  need  Christianity  so  much,  it  does  so  much 
for  them,  the  transformation  that  it  works  in  them  is  so  marked,  that 
the  servant  of  Christ  feels  that  he  is  in  fellowship  of  service  with  the 
Lord  Himself  in  a  very  peculiar  sense. 

It  seems  to  be  God's  plan  first  to  lift  up  the  depressed  classes. 
Under  the  benign  influences  of  Christianity,  they  are  steadily  rising 
and  improving  and  growing  stronger.  In  their  physical  condition,  in 
civilized  life,  in  education  and  knowledge,  in  moral  character,  they  in- 
evitably rise.  And  it  looks  as  if  the  Lord  purposes  thus  to  lift  them  up 
to  such  a  level  that  the  caste  people  can  no  longer  despise  them,  but 
will  the  rather  be  glad  to  come  into  Christianity  on  a  level  \^ath  them. 

The  fullness  of  time  does  not  seem  to  have  come  yet  for  the  caste 
people,  in  large  numbers,  to  receive  the  Gospel :  at  least,  up  to  this 
time  they,  with  comparatively  few  exceptions,  reject  it.  But  the  time 
shall  come,  for  "  every  valley  shall  be  exalted,  and  every  mountain  and 
hill  shall  be  made  low.  *  *  *  And  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  be 
revealed,  and  all  flesh  shall  see  it  together." 


The  World's  Conquest.  273 

How  TO  DO   Missionary  Work   Among  the    Educated    Classes 

IN  India. 

Rev.  Robert  A.  Hume,  of  Ahmadnagar,  India,  said  :  — 

By  the  educated  classes  in  India  is  meant  mainly  those  who  speak 
the  English  language  fairly,  and  who  have  come  under  the  influence  of 
Western  thought.  Educated,  thinking  Indians  who  do  not  know 
English  are  growing  very  few.  The  object  of  missionary  work  for 
such  is  here  assumed  to  be  to  give  them  life  and  that  more  abun- 
dantly. The  present  condition  of  the  educated  classes  in  general  is 
this :  A  few  have  heartily  accepted  Christianity ;  a  few  others  have  a 
profound  respect  for  it ;  a  few  who  are  quite  out  of  sympathy  with  it, 
and  who  look  to  a  revival  of  ancient  Hinduism  as  the  religion  for 
India,  j^et  have  been  much  influenced  by  Christianity ;  the  majority 
have  lost  faith,  not  only  in  Hinduism,  but  in  all  religion.  What  they 
are  interested  in  is  personal  and  national  advance  in  material  things, 
in  politics,  science,  etc.  The  one  authority  which  they  recognize  is 
Reason.  Now,  how  is  the  Christian  missionary  to  work  to  develop 
spiritual  life  in  these  classes  ?  Four  suggestions : 

I.  He  must  understand  them. 

II.  He  must  sympathize  with  them. 

III.  He  must  adapt  himself  to  them. 

IV.  He  must  himself  have  the  life  which  he  would  communicate. 

I.  In  order  to  develop  spiritual  life  in  educated  Indians,  the  Chris- 
tian missionary  must  first  understand  them.  He  must  understand  their 
mental  and  spiritual  characteristics.  The  Hindu  mind  is  retrospective 
in  contrast  with  the  Western  mind,  which  looks  forward.  For  exam- 
ple, the  Western  explains  the  existence  of  evil  in  the  universe  by  look- 
ing forward  to  a  time  when  the  enigmas  and  inequalities  of  the  present 
will  be  rightened ;  the  Hmdu  explains  by  looking  backward,  saying  all 
is  due  to  sin  or  merit  in  former  states  of  existence.  The  Hindu  mind 
is  introspective.  Its  ideals  are  its  proofs.  If  the  stoutest  outward 
facts  contradict  its  conceptions,  that  makes  no  difference ;  then,  "  so 
much  the  worse  for  the  facts." 

The  goal  for  the  perfected  Hindu  is  not  righteousness,  but  knowl- 
edge ;  hence,  conscience  has  little  part  or  influence  in  Hindu  life.  I 
know  no  adequate  Indian  idea  or  word  for  our  Western  "  conscience  "  ; 
hence,  belief  and  conduct  are  divorced  among  them.  A  normal  Hindu 
does  not  require  himself  or  others  to  do  what  he  or  they  acknowledge 
to  be  best.     The  whole  sense  of  "  oughtness  "  is  deficient. 

Again,  the  Hindu  mind  is  comprehensive ;  that  is,  it  is  ready  to  be- 
lieve everything.  Absolute  Pantheism — that  is,  the  belief  that  every- 
thing is  an  equal  manifestation  of  the  infinite  —  expresses  and  helps  to 
form   the    Plindu   mind.     What    seems   to   Occidentals  irreconcilable 


274  The  World's  Coxquest. 

contradictions  are  all  calmly  accepted  by  the  Hindu  as  equally  true  and 
as  one.  The  Hindu  says  that  to  the  wise  man  right  and  wrong,  good 
and  bad,  true  and  false,  light  and  dark,  etc.,  are  really  one  and  the 
same. 

Hence,  you  see  how  hard  for  the  Occidental,  whose  chief  charac- 
teristics are  practical  common  sense  and  a  recognition  of  "  oughtness,"  to 
understand  the  Hindu,  whose  strongest  mental  powers  are  memory  and 
imagination !  He  ranst  understand  how  Western  influences  have  af- 
fected the  Hindu  mind.  They  have  strengthened  the  logical  faculty, — 
that  is,  respect  for  facts  as  certifying  or  discrediting  religious  belief, — 
and  have  somewhat  checked  the  exuberance  of  a  too  rank  imagination. 
Western  influence  has  induced,  to  a  large  extent,  disbelief  in  and  dis- 
satisfaction with  both  philosophical  and  popular  Hinduism ;  but  the 
logical  result  of  this  apostasy  has  naturally  led  to  disbelief  in  all 
religion.  He  must  understand  why  Christianity  has  often  failed  to 
appear  to  Indians  in  its  proper  beauty  and  value.  The  chief  power 
which  has  wrought  all  changes  in  him,  and  the  one  authority  which  he 
recognizes,  is  Reason.  But  some  Christians,  who  use  this  authority  in 
all  other  matters,  deny  its  sufiicient  authority  in  authenticating  Chris- 
tianity. He  has  supposed  that  Christianity  was  mainly  a  creed  for 
intellectual  acceptance,  and  not  a  life,  which,  if  experienced,  would  be 
its  own  attestation. 

II.  The  missionary  must  sympathize  with  the  position  of  educated 
Indians : 

(1)  With  their  normal  intellectual  characteristics  and  present  po- 
sition. 

(2)  With  their  misconception  of  what  Christianity  supremely  is. 

(3)  With  their  aspirations  in  even  other  than  religious  matters; 
for  example,  their  material,  social,  political  aspirations,  etc. 

III.  The  missionary  must  adapt  his  jDresentation  of  Christianitj^ 
to  the  condition  of  educated  Indians. 

(1)  Manifestly  they  must  largely  be  ai:)proached  through  that 
authority  which  they  themselves  admit,  the  Reason.  Christianity  is 
the  highest  reason,  and  should  be  shown  to  be  such. 

(2)  Adaptation  requu'es  that  we  do  not  begin  with  points  which 
at  present  they  are  not  in  a  position  to  consider  fairly  or  to  ap- 
preciate. Our  Lord  exercised  such  reserve :  for  examj^le,  "  I  have  yet 
many  things  to  say  unto  you,  but  ye  cannot  bear  them  now."  Thus, 
the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  is  a  doctrine  which,  though  true,  the  edu- 
cated Indian  is  prejudiced  against.  It  is  enough  at  first  to  assume  only 
that  it  is  a  good  and  true  book.  The  Mohammedan  is  disqualified  from 
considering  evidence  for  the  Trinity.  But,  as  the  Koran  recognizes 
Jesus  as  the  onli/  sinless  prophet,  that  is  the  ground  to  start  from 
with  Mohammedans.     Beginning  there,  we  can  lead  them  to  obey  His 


The  World's  Conquest.  275 

teachings   and  accept  His  help,    and  to  pray   in  His  name.     This   is 
making  Him  divine. 

(3)  Begin  with  earthly  things  before  attempting  heavenly  (John 
3:12).  In  India,  as  elsewhere,  many  are  offended  at  the  teaching  of 
eternal  punishment.  Now,  while  I  believe  in  this,  why  dwell  on  that 
element  in  the  doctrine  which  causes  stumbling,  namely,  the  time  ele- 
ment, and  which  is  not  the  fundamental  or  chief  thing  in  it.  The 
fundamental  i)oint  is  the  certainty  of  retribution.  This  can  easily  be 
made  clear  to  IJeason.  And  retribution  is  a  better  word  to  stumblers 
than  punishment. 

(4)  Men  being  children  of  God,  made  in  His  image,  they  can  also 
be  approached  through  the  emotional  and  more  spiritual  side  of  their 
nature.  Expect  the  Holy  Spirit  to  prepare  the  heart  for  its  reception 
of  God's  message. 

(5)  Above  all,  make  the  risen  and  ever  living  Christ  the  center 
and  circumference  of  Christianity.  This  simplicity  and  vital  helpful- 
ness of  Christianity  is  its  great  power. 

IV.  No  one  can  so  understand,  sympathize  with,  and  adapt  him- 
self to  educated  Indians  unless  he  has  in  himself  that  life ;  that  is,  the 
intellectual  preparation,  the  symi:)athetic  mental  and  spiritual  habit,  the 
adapting  tact  of  a  wise  spiritual  teacher,  love  for  them  as  children  of 
our  common  Father,  and  intimacy  with  Him.  But  one  who  has  a 
vital  experience  of  constant  help  from  the  living  Christ  and  of  guid- 
ance from  the  Holy  Spirit  may  expect  success  in  work  for  the  educated 
classes  in  India. 

The  Work  in  Rohilicund. 

Peachy  T.  Wilson,  of  Budaun,  India,  said :  — 

I  will  assume  that  all  belong  to  this  class  whose  children,  on  account 
of  their  low  social  status,  cannot  attend  the  government  or  village 
schools.  There  are  some  five  millions  of  people  in  Rohilicund,  com- 
posed chiefly  of  Mohammedans  and  Hindus,  but  there  are  also  several 
hundred  thousands  belonging  to  the  depressed  classes. 

We  have  from  the  first  carried  the  Gospel  to  all  the  people,  havmg 
converts  from  every  class ;  but  we  have  found  the  caste  tie  stronger 
among  the  high  caste  Hindus  than  the  family  tie  ;  and  hence,  on  hav- 
ing a  convert  from  these  people,  the  ban  or  disgrace  of  being  put  out 
of  caste  was  such  that  the  convert  was  reckoned  as  one  dead,  and 
ceased  to  influence  the  family.  But  not  so  among  the  depressed 
classes.  When  one  of  these  is  couA^erted  he  tells  the  good  news  to 
brothers  and  sisters  and  relatives,  over  whom  he  still  exerts  an  influence. 
The  result  is  they  become  enquirers,  and  by  and  by  become  Christians ; 


276  The  World's  Conquest. 

and  thus  the  influence  has  spread  on  family  lines  till  hundreds  have 
accepted  Christ,  and  indeed  in  some  cases  the  work  widens  till  the 
awakening  becomes  tribal. 

This  was  first  seen  among  us  in  the  Moradabad  District,  where, 
under  the  ministry  of  E.  W.  Parker,  J.  M.  Thoburn  (now  Bishop), 
and  others,  when  the  Mazhabi  Sikhs,  a  tribe  which  had  come  originally 
from  the  Punjab,  began  to  become  Christians  in  numbers,  in  a  few 
years  they  had  for  the  most  part  become  Christians.  Some  of  them 
removed  to  the  new  Christian  village  of  Panapoor  in  Oude,  and  have 
become  excellent  citizens.  The  children  of  many  were  educated  in 
the  Bareilly  and  Shahjahanpoor  orphanage  schools  ;  and  to-day  we 
have  many  ordained  ministers,  and  also  noble  women,  who  are  the 
children  of  these  converts  of  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago.  One,  Rev. 
Hiram  H.  Cutting,  is  an  able  presiding  elder  in  charge  of  a  district ; 
another,  Rev.  S.  Phillip,  is  a  popular  head  master  of  the  Budaun 
school,  and  is  so  highly  thought  of  by  the  government  that  he  has 
been  selected  as  a  member  of  a  committee  which  has  to  arrange  the 
course  of  instruction  in  government  and  aided  schools. 

The  most  numerous  of  these  classes  in  Rohilicund  are  the  Chunars ; 
there  are  several  hundred  thousand  of  them  in  the  Division.  There 
have  been  special  efforts  to  lead  them  to  Christ.  Many  have  been 
converted,  and  some  of  our  most  devoted  ministers  are  from  this  class. 
But,  while  they  are  open  to  instruction,  still  caste  rules  are  held  to 
with  much  tenacity,  and  up  to  this  time  those  becoming  Christians 
from  among  them  have  to  suffer  much  persecution  from  relations  and 
neighbors.  However,  this  whole  tribe  is  in  a  state  of  inquiry,  and  the 
day  is  at  hand  when  they  will  cast  away  their  idols,  and  accept  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

But  I  now  have  to  notice  a  tribe  who  are  very  interesting  on 
account  of  their  inclination  towards  Christianity.  The  Khakrobs  or 
Sweepers,  called  also  Mihtars,  are  the  people  who  do  all  the  sweeping 
of  the  streets  and  scavenger  work  in  the  cities.  They  are  also  village 
watchmen,  keepers  of  swine,  small  farmers,  and  makers  of  baskets, 
stools,  and  other  domestic  articles  used  by  the  village  people.  They 
are  an  industrious,  well-to-do  people,  found  in  most  towns  and  villages 
in  these  parts.  There  were  some  eighty  thousand  in  the  Division. 
Probably  twenty-five  thousand  of  these  have  become  Christians,  leaving 
some  fifty-five  thousand  yet  to  be  converted.  The  work  among  them 
took  family  lines  :  on  one  being  converted  he  told  it  to  his  kindred  ; 
they  were  converted,  and  they  told  the  glad  story  to  other  relatives ; 
they  were  converted  ;  and  thus  the  work  sjDread. 

AVhen  Mrs.  Wilson  and  I  were  appointed  to  the  Budaun  District, 
six  years  ago,  we  had  calls  from  jnarxy  places  something  like  this  :  "  We 
are  Christians.     Come  and  baptize  us.     Give  us  a  pastor-teacher,  that 


The  World's  Conquest.  277 

we  may  be  taught  the  good  way,  and  that  our  children  may  learn  to 
read."  Sometimes  months  elapsed  before  we  could  go.  At  that  time 
we  were  quite  helpless  on  account  of  not  having  funds.  But,  as  our 
needs  became  known,  and  that  thirty  dollars  would  support  a  pastor- 
teacher  for  a  year,  the  money  began  to  come  in,  and  wife  and  I  were 
enabled  to  visit  and  arrange  for  the  teaching  of  enquirers  in  many 
villages.  About  this  time  also  Bishop  Thoburn  visited  Mr.  Moody's 
school  at  Xorthfield,  and,  upon  presentation  of  the  need,  about  one 
hundred  pastor-teachers'  salaries  were  provided  for  by  friends  of  mis- 
sions present.  This  gave  a  great  impetus  to  the  work  in  India  and  was 
very  helpful  to  us  in  our  emergency. 

About  this  time  I  had  urgent  calls  to  go  and  baptize  some  enquirers 
in  a  town  across  the  Ganges,  where  there  were  no  Christians.  Some 
three  or  four  hundred  of  these  people  lived  here.  I  sent  them  an 
evangelist  several  times,  and  each  time  they  urged  me  to  come  and 
baptize  them  ;  but,  as  I  was  not  prepared  to  put  a  pastor  among  them, 
I  did  not  venture  to  do  so ;  but  on  receipt  of  funds  our  evangelist,  wife 
and  I  went  to  them.  We  held  a  meeting  in  a  place  where  some 
hundred  and  fifty  of  these  people  lived.  We  read  the  Scriptures,  sung 
a  h;s^Tln  and  prayed ;  then  our  evangelist,  wife  and  self  spoke  by  turns. 
God  was  AA^th  us ;  and  thej^  all  wanted  baptism.  They  were  deemed 
fit  subjects,  as  they  had  forsaken  their  idols  and  had  believed  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  So  there  and  then  Ave  baptized  some  one  hundred 
and  forty-four  persons.  We  held  services  in  another  place  on  the  follow- 
ing evening.  On  this  occasion  we  baptized  over  forty,  making  the  total 
about  two  hundred  during  our  stay.  We  gave  them  a  preacher  and  a 
pastor-teacher,  and  the  work  has  steadily  progressed  ever  since. 

The  Budaun  Count}^  or  District  is  divided  into  eight  circuits.  A 
native  minister  has  charge  of  each  of  these  circuits,  except  the  one  at 
Budaun,  which  is  in  the  charge  of  the  missionary.  These  ministers  em- 
ploy as  many  pastor-teachers  throughout  their  circuits  as  available 
funds  will  allow.  These  teach  the  Christians  and  the  enquirers,  while 
the  native  minister  supervises  all,  and  baptizes  those  deemed  prepared 
for  that  ordinance. 

Each  of  these  pastor-teachers  may  have  charge  of  ten  villages, 
more  or  less.  The  boj'-s  and  girls  in  these  elementar}^  schools  cannot 
get  very  far  along  in  their  studies ;  but  the  more  promising  ones  are 
di-afted  into  our  girls'  and  boys'  boarding  schools  at  our  central  station, 
where  they  have  excellent  opportunities  for  improvement.  Then,  if 
they  do  well  at  these  schools,  they  may  go  to  the  normal  or  theological 
school  at  Bareilly,  and  are  fitted  for  teachers,  or,  with  God's  help, 
ministers  of  the  Gospel ;  or,  if  desired,  they  may  go  to  our  woman's 
or  to  our  young  men's  college  at  Lucknow. 


278  The  World's  Conquest. 

As  I  am  addressing  young  men,  some  of  whom  may  in  the  futm-e 
engage  in  foreign  missionary  work,  I  will  tell  you  how  I  would  begin 
if  m}'^  Bishop  should  send  me  to  0})en  a  new  work  somewhere  in  India 
on  my  return  next  fall ;  and  I  Avrite  after  an  experience  of  more  than 
thirty  years ;  and  I  have  myself  during  the  25ast  six  years  baptized  more 
than  three  thousand  persons. 

If  I  were  appointed  to  the  region  of  Hindustan,  I  could  begin  work 
at  once ;  if  stationed  at  some  other  place  I  would  have  to  master  the 
language.  This  Avould  take  about  two  years.  Some  could  do  it  soon- 
er, but  a  longer  time  is  usually  required  for  a  fluent  use  of  the  language. 
Then  I  would  get  access  to  the  government  census  rejDorts,  from  which 
I  would  learn  all  about  the  numbers  of  the  different  castes  and  tribes 
living  in  my  region.  I  would  begin  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  all  as  a 
witness,  and  to  instruct  carefully  and  pray  with  any  enquirers  who 
might  come  to  me  from  time  to  time.  But  I  would,  by  some  means, 
make  the  acquaintance  of  the  chief  men  among  the  lower  classes  of 
people  ;  and  would  ask  the  Lord  to  give  me  some  of  these  people  ;  and 
I  would  hojje  soon  so  to  win  some  of  them  to  myself,  as  a  servant  of 
Jesus,  that  I  could  have  some  one  teaching  their  children  to  read,  to 
sing  our  Gosj^el  hymns,  to  commit  to  memory  the  ten  commandments 
and  the  Lord's  prayer ;  and,  by  i^ersonal  aj^peals,  I  would  exjject  the 
Gospel  seed  soon  to  spring  up.  Then,  when  any  boys  or  girls  were 
converted,  I  would  see  that  they  were  educated,  and  after  a  little  I 
would  hope  to  have  boarding  schools  for  boys  and  girls  filled  with 
earnest,  helpful,  Christian  pupils. 

I  have  traveled  far  and  seen  many  lands,  but  I  know  of  no  fields  so 
ready  for  the  Gospel  seed,  with  a  promise  of  an  abundant  and  speedy 
harvest,  as  that  of  the  depressed  classes  in  India. 

The  Rev.  A.  T.  Rose,  D.  D.,  said:  — 

My  work  has  been  almost  entirely  among  the  Burmese.  The  Bur- 
mese are  the  ruling  people  of  Burma.  Large  tribes  of  aborigines 
occupy  Burma,  so  that  we  are  obliged  to  give  the  people  the  entire 
Word  of  God  in  four  different  languages. 

The  religion  that  has  the  most  control  over  the  Burmese  and  Shans 
and  Tlangs  is  not  Buddhism,  but  devil  worship  —  spirit  worshipers  or 
devil  worshipers  you  might  call  the  devotees  of  this  cult.  Accurately 
speaking  you  can  hardly  call  their  performances  worship ;  because  no 
feeling  of  reverence  enters  into  their  ceremonies,  but  fear  and  dread 
rather.  They  feel  that  if  they  do  not  make  offerings  to  these  spirits 
that  calamity  will  come  iipon  them.  These  spirits  preside  everywhere 
—  in  birds,  in  rivers,  in  fields,  and  in  streams  ;  and  they  have  the  power 
of  bestowing  benefits  and  evils.     They  can  make  people  sick  or  make 


The  World's  Conquest.  279 

them  well ;  they  can  give  children  or  take  children  away.  If  there 
come  any  ajjproaching  calamity  or  any  danger,  these  spirits  must  be 
propitiated  by  offerings. 

Now,  what  is  Buddhism  as  we  have  it  in  Burma  ?  I  was  never 
more  amazed  than  when  I  saw  the  great  motto :  The  Hindu's  Glory  is 
the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  Brotherhood  of  Man  !  Think  of 
Hindus  glorying  in  the  brotherhood  of  man  and  think  of  Buddhists  that 
deny  the  existence  of  God,  that  tell  you  there  is  neither  Creator,  nor 
Preserver,  nor  Saviour ;  there  is  no  God  that  can  hear  prayer  or  answer 
prayer,  and  that  if  you  are  saved  you  must  save  yourself;  think  of 
men  whose  religion  is  made  up  of  negations  glorying  in  the  Fathei-hood 
of  God.  I  have  never  witnessed  such  prodigious  mockery  in  all  my  life 
as  that  idea.  What  is  Buddhism  ?  It  is  intensely  atheistic.  I  speak 
of  Buddhism  which  is  common  to  Burma,  Ceylon,  and  Siam.  Bud- 
dhism in  China  and  Japan  may  be  different,  but  Buddhism  in  Burma  is 
intense  atheism.  They  do  not  believe  in  God.  They  say,  "  Oh,  if  there 
were  such  a  Saviour,  if  we  could  believe  as  you,  how  happy  should  we 
be :  we  would  like  to  have  a  God,  a  Heavenly  Father,  as  well  as  you, 
but  we  can't  believe  it."  Of  course,  since  they  do  not  believe  in  God, 
you  can  see  they  are  cut  off  from  this  most  salutary  and  blessed  power 
that  helps  us  and  gives  us  suj^port. 

The  next  point  to  outline  is  that  thej'^  are  all  beUevers  in  transmi- 
gration ;  that  is,  men  live  to  die,  and  die  to  be  born  again,  and  the 
whole  human  family  is  passing  a  ceaseless  round  of  transmigration ; 
and  that  is  all  there  is  for  them,  except  now  and  then  perhaps  one  may 
be  so  fortunate,  by  reason  of  some  great  merit,  to  pass  into  annihila- 
tion. The  next  point  is  that  annihilation  with  these  Buddhists  is 
looked  \ipon  as  the  highest  attainable  good.  You  ask  a  man,  "  What 
is  your  great  desire,  what  do  you  long  for,  what  do  you  labor  to  get 
merit  for  —  what  is  the  object?"  The  answer  is,  "It  is  to  hasten  my 
annihilation."  Some  years  ago  there  was  a  discussion  about  the  mean- 
ing of  annihilation,  and  this  definition  was  given  :  unconscious,  blissful 
repose.  But  what  felicity  or  satisfaction  is  there  in  unconscious 
repose  ?  Just  then,  right  in  the  height  of  this  interesting  discussion, 
there  came  from  Mandalay  a  favorite  priest  that  the  King  of  Burma 
had  sent  down  to  lower  Bm-ma  to  get  reliable  facts  regarding  some 
customs.  I  went  in  to  see  him,  in  company  with  an  old  Christian  man, 
and  the  priest  was  on  his  platform,  or  some  throne,  about  as  high  as 
we  are  above  the  floor.  We,  of  course,  sat  down  on  the  floor  on  a 
mat,  for  it  wouldn't  do  for  me  to  get  as  high  as  the  priest.  We  were 
very  cordially  received,  and,  to  make  the  story  short,  I  was  given  the 
privilege  of  asking  the  priest  a  question. 

"  I  shall  be  very  glad  if  I  am  able  to  answer  any  question,"  said  the 
priest. 


280  The  World's  Conquest. 

"  You  are  aware  tliat  there  is  a  great  deal  of  interest  and  discussion 
regarding  the  meaning  of  '  nirvana ' ;  will  you  kindly  tell  us  what  that 
word  means  ?  " 

" '  Nirvana '  is  a  condition  where  there  is  no  material  body,  no  mind, 
no  spirit,  no  soul  —  no  nothing ;  where  everything  is  gone  out." 
There  was  just  in  front  of  him  six  or  eight  torches.  Then,  as  if  he  felt 
he  didn't  make  it  quite  plain,  and  wanted  to  make  it  plainer,  he  took 
one,  and  with  a  little  bamboo  stick  knocked  off  the  cinders  so  that  it 
burned  brightly,  and  held  up  the  blaze  so  that  it  was  conspicuous,  and 
said,  "  Does  the  teacher  see  the  blaze  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,"  said  I. 

"Are  you  quite  sure  you  see  the  blaze  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes."    A  sudden  jerk  and  of  course  the  blaze  was  extinguished. 

He  asked,  "  Can  you  see  the  blaze  now  ?  " 

"  No,  of  course  not." 

That  was  "  Nirvana."  That  is  what  they  long  for  :  that  is  what  they 
seek  to  gain  merit  for,  hoping  to  arrive  at  annihilation.  You  ask  me, 
is  it  possible  that  human  beings,  endowed  with  reason  —  how  is  it  pos- 
sible for  them  to  long  for  annihilation  ?  It  is  simply  this  :  that  while 
we  exist  there  is  disappointment,  there  is  misery,  there  is  suffering, 
there  is  death ;  and  there  is  no  escape  from  this  misery  and  this  death 
except  by  annihilation,  and  hence  they  long  for  non-existence.  That  is 
their  philosophy.  Do  you  long  for  annihilation  —  do  you  struggle  and 
pray  and  agonize,  for  annihilation  ?  Is  this  your  hope  —  is  this  youi* 
brightest  anticipation  ?  Thank  God  for  His  love  and  grace  through 
Jesus  Christ,  we  have  something  better. 

I  am  glad  to  say,  in  lower  Burma  especially,  where  we  have  been 
laboring  for  fifty,  sixty  or  seventy  years,  and  have  scattered  broadcast 
Christian  tracts,  proofs  of  God's  Word,  hundreds  and  thousands  of 
people  admit  there  must  be  a  Supreme  Being  —  the  universe  didn't 
make  itself.  They  confess  that  there  must  ])e  a  God  who  is  their 
Creator.  They  also  say,  unlike  the  Buddhists,  that  they  believe  that 
this  God  has  a  right  to  pardon  sin.  Buddhism  tells  us  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  pardon  for  sin  :  sin  cannot  be  forgiven;  no  such  Being  as  a 
Saviour ;  no  God  :  he  that  sinneth  must  bear  his  sin.  Now,  they  say, 
"  We  are  sinners ;  we  cannot  save  ourselves ;  we  do  not  want  annihila- 
tion ;  we  want  certain  facts  and  evidences."  Thousands  of  people  are 
gradually  giving  up,  one  after  another,  the  great  doctrines  of  Buddhism, 
and  embracing  some  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Gospel.  And 
so  at  present  they  are  more  ready  to  receive  the  Gospel.  Only  the  last 
evening  before  leaving  Burma  I  was  called  to  a  heathen  village, 
where  I  had  already  preached  a  few  times.  I  found  that  in  the 
course  of  three  days  there  was  a  large  crowd  of  people  assembled ;  and 
instead  of  having  one  here  and  one  there,  and  a  half  dozen  all  around. 


The  World's  Coxqukst.  281 

disputing,  arguing  and  contending,  not  a  single  man  asked  any  question  ; 
unless  it  was  simply  vnth  a  view  to  understand  better  some  things  we 
had  said,  and  at  the  close  one  came  to  me  and  he  said,  "  Teacher,  here 
are  a  number  of  us  that  are  convinced  and  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  we  want  to  be  baj^tized."  And  eight  men,  among  the  best  and 
noblest  men  of  the  village,  with  their  families,  and  eight  women,  were 
then  and  there  baptized.  This  was  the  day  before  leaving.  In  hun- 
dreds of  villages  they  are  giving  up  the  Avorsliip  of  idols. 

Among  the  Karens  we  have  about  thirty-five  thousand  church  mem- 
bers and  five  hundred  Christian  churches.  We  have  now  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  young  men  taking  the  first  course  in  Bible  teaching, 
for  they  are  to  go  out  and  carry  the  Gospel  to  the  people.  What  we 
need  there  the  most,  what  we  need  everywhere,  is  the  Holy  Spirit :  we 
need  power  from  on  high.  We  need  men  ;  we  need  money  ;  but,  after 
all,  our  great  need  is  that  which  comes  down  from  God  in  answer  to 
fervent  and  faithful  prayer. 

Rev.  Reese  Thackwell  said :  — 

I  would  like  to  state  that  I  am  from  the  north  of  India  —  a  great 
way  from  the  part  of  India  about  which  you  have  been  listening. 
With  regard  to  education,  I  may  mention  there  is  considerable  differ- 
ence in  the  north  in  that  respect.  I  fully  sympathize  with  all  that  has 
been  said  by  om-  brother,  and  endorse  what  he  said.  It  is  true  that  up 
in  the  north  there  are  skeptics  and  those  among  the  educated  who  are 
not  skeptics.  Especially  I  may  mention  that  you  should  not  go  to 
those  educated  in  the  mission  schools  to  look  for  skeptics.  The  skep- 
tics among  the  educated  men  are  largely  young  men  educated  through 
the  government  where  the  Bible  has  never  been  taught.  But  up  our 
way  we  have  a  large  class  of  believers  among  the  educated  young  men, 
and  this  class  is  very  largely  the  outcome  of  our  educational  efforts. 
It  is  not  so  apparent  now  as  it  will  be  by  and  by.  There  is  a  large 
class  of  young  men  visiting  the  city ;  they  are  in  sympathy  with  us. 
A  more  earnest  class  of  young  men  you  never  get  in  so-called  Chris- 
tian America  to  whom  to  teach  the  Bible.  That  is  true  all  over  the 
country. 

Allow  me  to  pass  to  another  point  with  regard  to  social  visiting.  I 
attach  a  great  deal  of  importance  to  that.  I  think  you  said,  with  re- 
gard to  the  high  class  people,  that  the  missionary  cannot  go  to  their 
homes.  I  am  happy  to  say,  in  upper  India  it  is  not  so  ;  the  high  class 
people  are  proud  to  have  the  missionaries  come.  I  regret  very  much 
that  in  my  past  missionary  life  I  didn't  give  more  attention  to  that 
fact.  It  is  certainly  the  fact  now  that  he  can  go  and  visit  the  high 
class  men  in  their  homes. 


282  The  World's  Conquest. 

The  Chairman  said:  — 

Here  is  a  question  just  handed  me  relative  to  the  importance  of 
medical  missions. 

Mr.  Thackwell  said  :  — 

I  attach  a  great  deal  of  importance  to  medical  missions ;  but  we 
must  be  si;re  that  the  right  kind  of  people  go  to  do  medical  work. 

Speaking  from  my  own  personal  knowledge,  one  class  of  people  have 
been  educated  in  medicine  and  have  gone  out  there,  and  have  tui-ned 
their  backs  on  evangelistic  work. 

The  Chairman  said :  — 

Has  a  missionary  lady  doctor  abundant  scope  for  her  talents  in 
India? 

Mr.  Thackwell  said  :  — 

Any  amount  of  work  for  the  ladies ;  but  I  have  in  my  mind  a 
medical  lady  who  was  in  the  habit  of  going  to  houses  to  attend  the 
sick,  and  never  opened  her  mouth  to  speak  about  God.  So  that  you 
will  see  a  number  of  sisters  go  in  for  medicine  —  it  is  a  splendid  pro- 
fession to  have ;  but  when  you  go  out  there,  remember  the  first  thing 
to  keep  before  you  is  the  soul,  as  well  as  healing  the  body :  medicine 
is  but  the  handmaid  to  the  other. 

I  think  I  ought  to  make  an  explanation  in  that  matter  of  entering 
houses.  Some  caste  men  have  reception  rooms  at  their  houses,  where 
they  are  very  glad  to  see  the  missionary,  but  they  cannot  enter  the 
apartments  where  their  families  are.  It  is  a  reception  room  that  some 
caste  houses  have.  Missionary  ladies  can  go  into  the  houses  —  almost 
all  houses  —  and  see  the  women  and  children. 

Question.     What  is  the  climate  of  India  in  winter  ? 

Mr.  Thackwell  said :  — 

Don't  you  be  afraid  of  it.  When  I  went  out,  some  of  the  people 
didn't  know  how  to  live  there,  and  the  result  was  that  a  great  many 
died.  It  was  especially  true  of  the  white  children, —  the  graveyards 
were  full  of  little  graves.  But  that  is  not  so  any  longer.  Look  at  me. 
Forty-five  years  ago  I  went  out  to  India.  I  don't  think  I  am  a  very 
bad  specimen  of  a  man  :  let  that  answer  the  question.  I  am  not 
praising  the  climate  of  India.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  you  will  not 
experience  physical  discomfort.     The   winters  are  splendid,  the  best 


The  World's  Conquest.  283 

winters  in  tlie  world :  you  couldn't  get  abetter  climate  from  November 
to  March, 

Question.     Is  it  best  for  a  missionary  to  go  married  or  unmarried? 

Mr.  Thackwell  said :  — 

Well,  I  certainly  would  say,  go  out  married. 

Question.     Any  exceptions  to  that  rule  ? 

Mr.  Thackwell  said  :  — 

Yes ;  exceptions  to  the  rule.  The  circumstances  of  India  are  pe- 
culiar ;  the  state  of  society  is  altogether  different  from  the  society  in 
America.  I  remember  the  time  when  an  unmarried  man  was  consid- 
ered to  be  a  vicious  man.  I  remember  the  time  when  a  native  Hindu 
didn't  believe  it  possible  that  any  man  could  live  a  pure  life  unmarried. 
Consequently,  a  married  missionary,  going  out  with  the  right  kind  of 
a  wife,  who  will  be  in  sympathy  with  the  women  as  the  man  should  be 
with  the  men,  may  exercise  a  great  deal  of  influence. 


AFRICA. 

Friday  Apterxoox,  March  2,  1894. 

D.  Willard  Lyon,  Chairman, 

After  a  devotional  exercise,  the  program  was  carried  out  along  three 
main  lines :  Addresses,  Question  Box,  and  Appeals. 

A  Geographical  Survey  of  Africa. 

Mr.  William  E.  Blackstone,  of  Oak  Park,  Illinois,  said  :  — 

For  convenience  Africa  may  be  divided  into  six  great  divisions : 
North  Africa,  embracing  the  Barbary  States  and  Egjq^t,  West  Africa, 
South  Africa,  East  Africa,  Congo  Free  State,  and  the  Soudan.  In  the 
latter  there  are  twelve  great  kingdoms  with  ninety  millions  of  people, 
and  not  a  single  witness  for  Jesus. 

Africa  is  remarkable  for  its  size.  It  is  a  wonderful  continent  in 
extent.  It  contains  about  twelve  millions  of  square  miles,  being  five 
thousand  miles  long  and  four  thousand  miles  wide.  It  is  almost  im- 
possible to  comprehend  this.  Take  an  illustration  :  If  the  north  point 
of  Africa  were  placed  on  the  west  coast  of  Ireland  as  a  pivot,  and  Cape 
Town  were  swung  around  to  the  west,  we  should  find  it  located  more 
than  one  hundred  miles  west  of  Chicago.  Its  formation  is  extraordi- 
nary, being  much  like  an  inverted  saucer ;  the  coast-line  .low  and  un- 
healthy ;  then  a  rim  of  mountains  of  varying  heights ;  while  in  the  in- 
terior it  is  one  great  elevated  plateau,  from  fifteen  hundred  to  three 
thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  There  are  four  great  rivers  of  Africa, 
namely :  the  Nile,  the  Niger,  the  Congo,  and  the  Zambesi ;  while  the 
Orange  and  the  Limjiopo  are  also  rivers  of  considerable  magnitude. 
The  basin  of  the  Congo  is  two  hundred  thousand  square  miles  greater 
than  those  of  the  Yangtse  and  Hwang-ho,  of  China,  combined. 
Africa  is  remarkable  for  its  age.  Its  history  is  measured  by  mil- 
lenniums.    In  the  tombs  and  on  the  pyramids  we  may  decipher  the 


The  World's  Conquest.  285 

cartoons  of  Cheops,  and  Rameses  II.,  the  persecutor  of  Moses.  This 
country,  for  so  long  a  time  considered  to  be  small,  has,  by  modern 
exploration,  been  demonstrated  to  contain  a  population  of  at  least  two 
hundred  million.  God  has  used  European  nations  to  divide  up  its  ter- 
ritory, establish  settled  governments,  open  rivers  and  raih'oads  for 
travel  and  transportation,  so  that  the  missionary  may  go  quickly  with 
the  message  of  salvation. 

When  my  Master  and  your  Master  suffered,  was  rejected  and  con- 
demned by  the  race  of  Shem,  and  was  on  His  way  to  be  put  to  death, 
it  was  one  of  the  race  of  Ham  who  bore  His  cross.  Will  there  not  be 
a  recompense  for  that  service  ?  With  the  mighty  demand  for  laborers, 
should  not  every  able-bodied  Christian  expect  a  clear  call  to  stay  at 
home  before  waiting  for  one  to  go  ? 

Egypt  as  a  Mission  Field. 

Rev.  Chauncey  Murch,  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Mission  of 
Egyjjt,  said :  — 

Egypt  is  a  land  of  wonderful  interest  to  the  antiquarian.  It  is 
also  a  land  of  very  great  interest  to  men  of  modern  ideas.  In  fact, 
no  land,  unless  it  may  be  Palestine,  is  more  interesting  to  the  Christian 
than  the  land  of  Egyjjt.  Away  back  in  the  mists  of  long  forgotten 
antiquity  there  was  a  civilization  in  Egypt  that  is  still  a  wonder  to 
those  of  our  progressive  age ;  and  at  that  time,  at  that  very  early 
period,  and  on  until  this  present  time,  I  think  we  may  truthfully  say, 
the  Egyijtian  is  and  always  has  been  a  very  interesting  being.  And 
through  all  of  this  period  the  Egyjitians  have  known  the  true  God ; 
but,  alas,  they  have  not  worshipped  Him  as  such. 

Egy]3t  is  a  short  strip  of  country,  nmning  five  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  or  more  along  that  wonderful  river,  the  Nile,  up  as  far  as  the 
first  cataract,  and  having  an  average  width  of  about  twelve  to  sixteen 
miles  —  a  narrow  strip  cut  out  through  the  desert.  The  people  of 
Egy])t  were  a  civilized  people  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  Moses 
was  able  to  place  the  boundaries  of  his  kingdom  wherever  he  wished. 
Following  this  period  of  civilization,  the  old  Egyptian  system  of  idol- 
atry was  in  force.  Although  they  had  a  knowledge  of  God,  that  great 
All-Eternal,  All-Powerful,  All-Invisible  One, —  although,  I  say,  they 
had  this  knowledge,  yet  the  mass  of  the  people  knew  not  that  they 
were  the  children  of  God.  This  idolatrous  system  passed;  and  we 
find  Eg}^t  in  the  course  of  time  becoming  a  Christian  country  :  for  the 
Roman  Empire  cast  its  Christian  influence  over  it  and  became  the  agent 
of  the  land,  and  continued  so  to  be  until  the  time  of  the  Mohammedan 
invasion.     Since  then  it  has  been  under  the  Mohammedan  power.    And 


286  The  World's  Conquest. 

so  you  see,  in  Egypt  we  still  have  a  remnant  of  this  early  Christianity; 
although,  I  might  say,  we  can  find  but  little  trace  of  those  early  Chris- 
tian influences  at  this  present  time. 

Nine-tenths  of  the  actual  population,  and  more  too,  perhaps,  is  Mo- 
hammedan. The  balance  of  the  popiilation  are  Christians,  and  Chris- 
tians just  such  as  you  have  here  in  this  land,  and  just  what  we  need  in 
other  heathen  lands ;  for  they  are  active  Christian  workers.  We  are 
going  to  keep  at  work  in  Egy|)t,  and  work  hard  too,  until  that  one- 
tenth  who  are  known  as  Christians  shall  include  the  nine-tenths  I  just 
spoke  of  as  Mohammedans.  When  you  come  to  consider  that  the 
population  of  Egypt  is  some  seven  millions,  it  is  a  pretty  hard  matter 
to  comprehend  how  we  are  going  to  bring  them  all  to  Christianity ; 
and  it  is  also  very  hard  to  comprehend  how  we  are  going  to  get  them 
to  accept  and  find  worthy  and  believe  worthy  of  theii'  acceptance  the 
religion  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ. 

I  say,  then,  we  need  lay- workers,  we  need  medical  missionaries,  we 
need  lady  missionaries,  and  we  need  ministerial  missionaries,  and  with 
these  that  work  should  go  on  to  a  final  completion.  We  have  the 
promises  of  God  that  are  made  to  us  in  general,  and  we  have  the 
special  promises  of  God  which  are  made  to  Egypt.  Having  received 
what  is  promised  to  her,  we  follow  along  the  banks  of  that  wonderful 
river,  scattering  the  blessings  of  Christianity  as  we  go,  giving  those 
people  the  water  of  the  river  of  life. 

Fulfillment  of  Prophecy  in  Africa. 

Mr.  Spencer  Walton,  Director  of  Cape  General  Mission,  said : — 

The  Rev.  Andrew  Murray  instituted  and  organized  the  Cape  Gen- 
eral Mission.  He  represents  the  Reformed  Church  in  that  dark  land. 
He  has  now  thirty-two  active  native  evangelists  and  wants  more.  It 
is  true,  without  a  doubt,  that  no  other  man  excepting  Andi-ew  Murray 
(unless  he  would  be  his  counterpart  in  every  particular)  could  have 
got  hold  of  these  natives  and  turned  them  out  full  fledged  missionaries 
in  so  short  a  time.  To  sum  the  matter  in  a  nut-shell :  he  is  filled  to 
the  brim  with  the  Holy  Spirit. 

It  is  only  a  few  years  back  when  that  country  was  entirely  closed : 
when  I  say  closed  I  mean  that  white  men  had  not  penetrated  its  in- 
terior, and  therefore  were  not  aware  of  its  condition.  I  think  that  I 
can  safely  say,  if  all  white  men  in  that  continent  and  the  white  men  of 
America  and  England  were  half  as  anxious  to  get  these  souls  as  they 
are  to  get  the  gold  and  diamonds  which  are  found  in  the  Congo  dis- 
trict, we  would  soon  have  the  whole  continent  evangelized,  but  oh, 
dear  me,  they  are  not ;  they  have  all  gone  there  with  but  one  object 


The  World's  Conquest.  287 

in  view  —  to  get  the  gold.  And  they  only  take  up  a  residence  there 
temporarily.  But  twentj^ -three  years  ago  there  was  a  perfect  rush  to 
that  part  of  the  continent  to  get  the  diamonds,  and  now  what  I  would 
say  is  this,  and  I  think  you  will  bear  me  out :  that  if  all  these  men  had 
been  Christians  in  the  truest  sense  of  the  word,  a  very  large  proportion 
of  the  population  there  would  now  have  a  knowledge  of  the  love  of 
Christ. 

When  you  come  to  think  that  our  mission  is  only  four  and  a  half 
years  old,  and  that  it  was  then  that  om*  first  missionary  Avent  out,  and 
that  now  we  number  seventy  missionaries,  do  you  not  think,  dear  friends, 
that  this  is  wonderful  progress?  I  frankly  confess  that  I  do.  We 
have  encountered  troubles  innumerable,  and  at  times  have  almost  felt 
that  we  would  have  to  give  up ;  but  then  the  thought  would  come  to 
us,  and  we  would  just  go  to  the  dear  Lord  and  tell  Him  our  trouble. 
He  has  always  helped  us  —  He  never  fails.  All  we  need  is  faith,  and 
we  can  conquer  worlds.  Do  you  know  that  some  times  we  find  our- 
selves short  of  cash,  and  lots  of  our  other  things  give  oixt ;  but,  just  the 
same,  as  I  have  said  before,  we  take  our  troubles  to  the  Lord,  and 
He  gives  us  the  needed  help. 

I  had  traveled  some  eight  hundred  miles  across  the  country  on 
horseback.  I  had  got  about  three  hundred  miles  when,  after  alighting 
at  a  place,  I  found  to  my  chagrin  that  my  horse  had  got  a  severe  sore 
on  his  back.  What  was  I  to  do  ?  I  could  not  go  ahead  on  foot ;  and 
it  was  certain  I  could  not  ride  my  horse  in  his  then  present  state,  and 
it  would  take  some  little  time  to  get  him  into  such  condition  that  I 
would  be  able  to  ride  it  again.  What  did  I  do  ?  Before  going  to  bed 
that  night  I  got  do^vn  on  my  knees  and  laid  the  whole  matter  before 
the  Lord.  The  next  day  we  had  a  meeting,  and  among  the  converts 
was  a  man  whose  wife  had  been  a  Christian  for  a  number  of  years,  and 
she  had  always  been  praying  that  her  husband  might  be  saved.  After 
the  meeting  this  man  came  up  to  me  and  told  me  how  glad  he  was  to 
meet  me.  After  talking  a  little  while  he  said,  "  I  think  your  horse  has 
got  a  sore  back."  I  answered  in  the  affirmative.  Whereupon  he  said : 
"  I  have  got  a  horse  to  spare :  take  him  and  finish  your  journey.  I 
will  keep  the  sick  horse,  and  get  him  cured."  Now  you  see  the  Father 
managed  the  horse  business  for  me  beautifully,  didn't  He?  Now  what 
I  want  to  say  is  this :  it  is  our  business  to  ask  the  Father  for  whatever 
we  need ;  and  (I  say  it  reverently)  it  is  His  business,  or  rather  His 
l^lace,  to  supply. 

I  do  not  think  I  can  close  better  than  by  quoting  from  Isaiah  45 : 
2,3:  "I  will  go  before  thee,  and  make  the  crooked  places  straight : 
I  will  break  in  pieces  the  gates  of  brass,  and  cut  in  sunder  the  bars 
of  iron :     And  I  will  give  thee  the  treasures  of   darkness,  and  hidden 


288  The  World's  Conquest. 

riches  of  secret  places,  that  thou  mayest  know  that  I,  the  Lord,  which 
call  thee  by  name,  am  the  God  of  Israel." 

Miss  Ellen  Groenendyke  said  :  — 

There  are  a  great  many  tribes,  each  with  a  separate  and  distinct 
language  and  all  in  a  different  state  of  development,  in  the  western 
part  of  Africa,  and  these  alone  are  a  great  som-ce  of  perplexity  to  the 
missionary.  In  one  district  he  may  understand  the  people  perfectly, 
while  in  the  adjoining  district  he  will  be  totally  unable  even  to  com- 
municate with  them. 

In  the  first  place,  if  you  go  to  that  coast  as  a  worker  you  will  find 
the  first  difficulty  with  yourself.  You  will  find  that  you  have  got  to 
have  the  love  of  God  in  your  heart.  I  say  you  have  got  to  have  that 
or  you  can  never  love  an  African  in  his  native  idolatry  and  supersti- 
tion. I  say,  therefore,  before  making  a  start,  first  lay  your  heart  at 
the  foot  of  the  cross,  and  then  the  very  first  difficulty  will  be  overcome. 

In  the  second  place,  white  people  are  always  looked  upon  with 
suspicion.  A  native  always  looks  to  see  if  a  white  man  comes  wath 
good  intentions.  Therefore,  you  have  to  show  the  people  that  you  are 
what  you  are  before  they  will  believe  you.  Then  another  thing,  they 
have  the  idea  that  white  people  are  made  out  of  money.  Because  white 
people  come  to  that  country  with  several  big  trunks,  —  half  a  dozen  or 
more  generally,  —  having  clothing  sufficient  for  a  considerable  length 
of  time,  and  various  other  necessities  that  cannot  be  obtained  in  far-off 
Africa,  they  say,  "  Look  at  all  the  boxes  she  has ;  she  must  be  im- 
mensely rich."  Then,  again,  an  African  is  very  similar  to  an  American. 
If  he  can  get  along,  and  secure  money  sufficient  for  his  needs  without 
working,  he  is  perfectly  willing  to  do  it ;  so  you  have  to  be  a  little  care- 
ful how  much  money  you  show,  or  how  much  display  you  make. 

In  nearly  every  different  place  the  tribe  has  a  language  of  its  own, 
there  being  something  like  five  hundred  different  languages  in  the  part 
of  the  country  where  I  am  situated,  and  in  the  small  place  where  I 
labor  we  have  five  different  languages.  These  are  not  as  difficult  to 
acquire  as  Chinese  or  Hindustani,  for  example.  There  is  one  thing 
certain,  however,  if  you  are  going  to  Africa  as  a  missionary  you  must 
make  up  your  mind  to  learn  at  least  four  or  five  languages.  The  fact 
that  these  languages  cannot  be  written  is  an  advantage  as  well  as  a  diffi- 
culty, inasmuch  as,  when  we  take  the  children  into  the  schools  to  teach 
them,  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  bring  the  English  language  into  play ; 
and  the  parents,  therefore,  cannot  consistently  object  to  our  mode  of 
procedure. 

In  the  next  place,  probably  the  greatest  thing  we  have  to  overcome 
is  the  superstition  of  the  people.     You  will  find  that  their  religion  is 


The  World's  Conquest.  289 

based  on  superstition,  and  that  natural  law  is  totally  ignored.  An 
illusti'ation  will  serve  to  show  what  I  mean  :  A  rainbow  is  always  be- 
tween you  and  the  rain  ;  and  they  say,  therefore,  that  the  rain  cannot 
get  to  you  because  between  you  and  the  rain  is  the  breath  of  a  frog. 
Of  course,  the  rain  is  always  on  the  other  side  of  the  rainbow  and  for 
this  simple  reason  they  worship  a  frog,  becaiise  they  believe  it  has  the 
power  to  help  them.  The  last  difficulty  that  I  shall  name  is  that  the 
devil  lives  in  Africa  and  is  as  much  of  a  devil  as  he  is  in  America. 

Now  for  the  encouragements,  and  they  are  many  :  In  the  first  place, 
we  have  the  little  children,  whom  we  teach  and  send  out  as  native 
workers.  They  are  wonderfully  apt  and  as  ready  learners  as  children 
in  America.  Why,  in  twelve  or  eighteen  months  a  child  will  become 
proficient  enough  to  read  in  the  first  reader.  Without  question  these 
children,  when  they  become  grown,  can  do  more  to  exterminate  the 
superstition  of  the  people  than  can  white  people,  and  for  this  reason,  I 
think  we  can  truthfully  say,  our  great  hope  lies  in  the  children.  Then 
there  is  another  very  great  encouragement :  The  African  is  tired  of 
his  idols,  and  if  it  were  not  for  the  superstitions  he  would  throw  them 
away.  In  the  last  place,  the  great  encouragement  is  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  able  and  willing  to  assist,  and  as  the  Bible  says,  "  save  to  the  utter- 
most." I  wish  that  I  could  tell  you  how  the  Holy  Spirit  can  teach 
these  ignorant  people.  I  have  seen  cases  where  a  man  has  been  to 
church  once  and  never  came  back  again.  He,  however,  got  a  taste  of 
what  true  religion  was,  and  on  going  back  to  his  people  seemed  to  see 
the  error  of  his  ways  and  was  willing  to  give  up  his  superstitions  and 
dismiss  his  idolatrous  customs.  I  can  say  I  have  seen  them  saved,  just 
as  truly  saved  as  I  believe  I  am  truly  saved  to-day.  So  I  say,  if  j'^ou 
want  to  go  to  Africa,  it  is  a  good  place  to  spend  your  life,  because 
Christ  lives  there  and  loves  just  the  same  as  He  does  here,  and  Christ 
has  as  much  power  there  as  here,  and  can  overcome  every  difficulty. 


Question  Box. 

Question.     Mr.  Murch,  will  you  please  name  some  literature  on 
Egyptian  missionary  work  ? 

Rev.  Chauncey  Murch  said :  — 

The  best  answer  to  that  would  be,  secure  copies  of  Reports  of  our 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  for  some  years  past. 

Question.     What  are  the  needs  and  opportunities  for  medical  work 
in  Africa? 


290  The  World's  Conquest. 

Mr.  Spencer  Walton  said :  — 

The  needs  for  medical  missionaries  in  Africa  are  great.  There  is 
a  large  field  for  them.  There  is  one  great  obstacle,  or  we  might 
say  evil,  in  this  line  of  work  that  has  to  be  contended  with,  and  that 
is  the  witch  doctor.  First  of  all,  he  is  asked  to  find  out  the  man,  or 
person,  who  has  bewitched  the  sick  person.  After  this  is  ascertained, 
the  ^Titch,  whoever  he  may  be,  is  put  through  a  course  of  torture ;  and 
after  this  has  been  done,  and  he  has  suffered  agonies  untold,  the  witch  is 
as  a  general  rule  put  to  death.  I  have  j^ersonally  seen  men  who  have 
suffered  beyond  description,  and  then  been  put  to  a  horrible  death 
After  the  witch  doctor  has  performed  this  part  of  his  duty,  he  then 
tries  his  hand  at  relieving  the  patient's  ailments.  The  Hottentots  are 
very  skillful  as  herbal  doctors,  and  sometimes  make  very  valuable  prep- 
arations ;  but  so  long  as  we  have  got  the  witch  doctor  to  contend 
against  in  his  present  powerful  position  little  or  nothing  can  be  done. 
There  is  a  remedy  for  this,  however,  and  that  is  simply  to  have  plenty 
of  good  physicians  sent  out  here.  When  the  people  see  the  real  value 
of  an  educated  practitioner,  they  will,  at  once,  turn  their  backs  on  the 
witch  doctors.  Therefore  the  power  of  banishing  this  class  of  people 
lies  with  the  medical  missionary.  There  is  no  use  going  out  there 
with  homeopathy,  because  the  more  bitter  the  dose  the  higher  the  re- 
gard for  the  doctor.  I  have  known  a  man  to  drink  off  a  half  pint  of 
kerosene  oil  and  then  smack  his  lips.  Two  ounces  of  salts  as  a  physic 
is  a  very  common  dose,  and  sufiicient  croton  oil  to  kill  an  ordinary 
man  is  often  administered.  Pulling  teeth  is  a  very  essential  point  also, 
and  I  would  not  advise  a  medical  man  to  go  there  without  having  first 
acquired  this  art. 

Question.     What  is  the  success  of  medical  missionaries  in  Africa? 

Mr.  Spencer  Walton  said :  — 

I  know  of  a  young  man  who  has  some  Scotch  blood  in  him,  who 
is  considered  one  of  the  most  successful  and  skillful  surgeons  in  South 
Africa.  He  says  that  from  early  morning  till  late  at  night,  he  has 
cases  coming  in,  thirty,  forty,  fifty  and  sixty  miles — people  who  walk  all 
that  distance  to  be  attended  to ;  and,  as  I  said  before,  the  more  bitter 
the  pill  that  is  given  them,  the  better  they  like  it  and  the  more  they 
think  of  the  physician. 

Question.  Please  say  something  about  the  diseases  of  Africa  and 
their  effects. 


The  World's  Conquest.  291 

Mr.  Spencer  Walton  said  :  — 

Well,  I  should  say  pneumonia  is  a  bad  thing.  Then  there  is  a  lot 
of  the  fever  which  we  might  call  malarial,  and  lots  of  consumption. 
Toothache  is  a  bad  thing  with  these  people  too.  I  know  of  a  case 
where  a  young  girl  came  to  have  a  tooth  drawn.  It  was  a  great  big  one, 
a  double  one,  and  very  hard  to  draw.  I  am  quite  sure  it  would  make 
any  American  man,  or  in  fact  anybody  else  than  an  African,  wince  ; 
for  as  I  said  before,  it  was  a  very  big  one.  The  girl  stood  it  all  right 
though.  She  barely  scowled,  and  that  was  all.  After  it  was  out,  she 
looked  at  the  doctor  and  said,  "  That  is  all  right !  I  am  coming  to- 
morrow to  have  another  one  out."  When  this  fever  lays  hold  of 
them,  it  takes  all  the  spirit  out  of  them,  and  they  are  willing  to  be 
cared  for  in  the  same  way  as  a  white  person ;  and  they  believe,  when 
they  are  given  anything  that  relieves  then-  suffering  for  a  time,  that 
the  doctor  is  a  supernatural  being.  In  my  district  one-third  of  that 
nation  has  been  destroyed  by  that  dread  erj^sipelas.  It  is  an  awful 
thing  in  that  country,  I  can  only  tell  you  about  South  Africa.  Small- 
pox breaks  out  in  other  parts  of  the  country  sometimes.  I  really  do 
not  think  there  is  any  special  disease  excepting  the  fever  which  is 
endemic.  However,  with  a  white  person,  a  liberal  quantity  of  quinine 
is  generally  capable  of  caring  for  this  trouble. 

Question.  Will  Mr.  Murch  tell  of  the  Mohammedan  School  at 
Cairo  ? 

Rev.  Chauncey  Murch  said :  — 

The  Mohammedan  University  is  called  "  The  University  of  El- 
Harsa,"  and  is  the  largest  Mohammedan  University  in  the  world.  As 
a  matter  of  fact  it  is  a  very  hard  matter  to  get  an  exact  census  of  that 
institution.  It  is  said  that  usually  there  are  some  ten  thousand  stu- 
dents there.  They  come  there  in  colonies  from  almost  every  part  of 
the  Mohammedan  world.  They  come  there,  and  really  do  not  under- 
stand anything  of  the  English  language,  nor  in  fact  any  other ;  and, 
what  is  more,  do  not  understand  any  of  the  English  religion.  Of  course 
their  whole  time  is  devoted  to  the  study  of  the  Koran,  as  it  is  the 
foundation  of  their  whole  belief.  The  whole  thing  can  be  summed 
up  in  a  very  few  woi'ds,  by  sapng  that  everything  they  study  is  based 
on  the  Koran  itself.  The  University  is  also  one  of  the  most  bigoted 
places  in  the  city  of  Cairo.  It  is  a  very  rare  thing  that  a  Christian 
goes  through  it  without  being  hissed,  so  positive  are  they  that  their 
belief  is  the  only  true  one. 

Question.     What  is  the  population  of  Egypt? 


292  The  World's  Conquest. 

Rev.  Chauncey  Murch  said  :  — 

Nearly  seven  millions  —  between  six  and  seven  millions ;  and  of 
that  number  about  four  hundred  and  fifty  or  five  hundred  thousand 
are  Christians :  a  little  less  than  one-tenth. 

Qiiestion.  Tell  something  of  the  health  of  the  missionaries  and 
their  outfit. 

Mr.  Walton  said :  — 

Usually  the  missionaries  have  very  good  health,  and  many  of  them, 
I  think,  have  lived  there  many  years  without  having  anything  more 
serious  than  a  slight  attack  of  fever.  Our  great  missionary  doctor, 
Dr.  Lansing,  used  to  tell  a  story  that  when  he  went  to  the  East  they 
said,  "  We  will  send  him  there  because  he  will  not  live  very  long  any 
way."  Although  he  was  a  consumptive  when  he  went  there  a  good  many 
years  ago,  he  is  now  what  might  be  termed  a  healthy  man.  We  have 
excessive  heat  there  and  long  continued  spells  of  hot  weather,  and 
there  is  nothing  much  to  brace  us  uj) ;  but  still,  as  a  rule,  missionaries 
in  South  Africa,  in  fact  all  through  Africa,  generally  have  been  long- 
lived. 

Now  as  to  outfit :  You  can  live  on  what  you  find  there.  Books 
and  newspapers  come  at  the  same  rate  as  they  are  got  at  home.  Of 
course,  if  you  want  delicacies  and  conveniences  you  must  either  get 
them  from  England  or  America.  I  might  say  that  we  often  do  get 
these  delicacies  and  conveniences,  but  of  course  have  to  procure  them 
in  the  way  I  have  just  mentioned. 

Question.  I  have  heard  it  said  that  those  who  go  to  Africa  are 
sure  to  have  a  fever :  is  it  true  ? 

Miss  Ellen  Groenendyke  said  :  — 

Three  years  and  a  half  have  elapsed  since  I  went  to  Africa,  and  I 
have  never  had  the  fever.  I  have  known  missionaries  who  have  gone 
to  Africa  to  be  there  but  three  or  four  weeks,  who  were  taken  with  the 
fever ;  but  I  do  not  know  of  any  case  where  it  has  been  fatal. 

Miss  Smith  said  :  — 

I  have  lived  in  Cape  Colony  nearly  eighteen  years,  and  I  never  had 
the  fever. 

Mr.  Spencer  Walton  :  — 

Get  outside  the  tropics,  and  you  get  outside  the  fever. 


The  World's  Conquest.  293 

Question.  Is  there  any  special  demand  for  lady  missionaries  in 
Africa  ? 

Mrs.  Walton  said  :  — 

I  can  tell  you  what  seven  of  our  missionaries  did.  They  worked 
very  hard,  for  there  was  plenty  of  work  to  be  done.  I  will  just  tell 
you  of  an  instance  where  two  of  our  ladj'^  missionaries  went  about 
seven  miles  from  our  station  to  a  place  we  had  not  before  visited. 
They  found  several  women  in  a  dwelling,  and  set  to  work  to  tell  them 
the  old,  old  story.  After  remaining  with  them  a  short  time  they  took 
their  leave.  Several  weeks  afterwards  two  of  these  same  women 
came  to  the  mission,  and  almost  got  down  on  their  knees  praying  that 
we  would  go  to  their  place  and  tell  them  about  this  wonderful  Christ. 
And  it  is  needless  to  say  that  we  gave  them  a  good  share  of  our 
attention. 

Question.     What  is  the  success  of  medical  missions  in  Egypt  ? 
Rev.  Chauncey  Murch  said  :  — 

Our  mission  has  not  been  able  to  try  that  work  successfully,  so  that 
I  cannot  speak  intelligently  on  that  subject.  The  need  of  the  people 
in  this  line  is  very,  yevy  great,  and  we  -^dsh  every  day  for  a  medical 
assistant,  or  rather  assistants,  in  our  mission. 

The  Egyptians  have  in  vogue  that  horrible  system,  the  seclusion  of 
women.  When  these  women  are  very  ill  a  Christian  physician  can  go 
into  their  presence  and  supply  medicines  and  medical  help  generally. 
I  say  Christian  medical  men  can  go  into  their  presence  and  a  Christian 
minister  or  missionary  cannot ;  therefore,  it  stands  to  reason  that  if  we 
had  medical  missionaries  they  could  do  great  good  in  the  matter  of  con- 
version of  these  i^oor  secluded  women. 

Oftentimes  our  missionaries,  when  sick  people  come  to  them,  give 
the  patients  a  dose  of  castor  oil,  or  something  of  that  kind.  If  it  helps 
them  they  think  you  a  physician ;  in  fact,  it  is  a  very  hard  matter 
to  assure  them  that  you  are  not,  for  they  will  say,  "  You  gave  us 
medicine,  and  it  cured  us."  I  have  known  cases  where  a  man  has  been 
cured  of  some  trifling  ailment  in  the  way  I  have  just  described,  and  the 
next  day  he  Avill  come  around  with  a  man  who  probably  has  consump- 
tion, or  has  had  asthma  for  thu-ty-five  or  forty  years,  and  will  want  you 
to  cure  him.  When  you  tell  them  that  you  cannot,  that  you  are  not  a 
physician,  thej  feel  sorely  disappointed,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  will  not 
believe  you,  for  they  will  insist  that  you  have  demonstrated  to  them 
that  you  are  a  physician. 


294  The  World's  Conquest, 

The  Chairman  said  :  — 

What  do  you  consider  to  be  the  best  reason  why  many  of  these 
young  men  and  young  women  should  go  to  Africa  ? 

Mr.  Miller  said  :  — 

It  is  very  hard  for  me  to  say  what  I  should  call  the  greatest  reason. 
I  think  if  people  in  this  country  and  other  civilized  countries  could  see 
some  of  the  suffering  of  the  millions  of  inhabitants,  they  would  consider 
that  the  greatest  reason  of  all  why  we  should  go  to  Africa. 

Mr,  Scott  said  :  — 

I  think  the  first  and  greatest  reason  of  all  is  simply  this :  Christ 
said,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  Gospel."  I  would  not, 
however,  advocate  missionaries  going  to  Africa  unless  they  know  a  lov- 
ing Christ :  unless  they  have  the  Holy  Ghost  as  an  all-abiding  Com- 
forter in  their  hearts,  and  are  willing  to  work  hard  and  energetically 
twenty-four  hours  in  every  day.  Do  not  think  that  the  devil  is  not  in 
Africa,  for  he  goes  around  there  just  the  same  as  he  does  here,  like  the 
devouring  lion  that  he  is. 

The  Rev.  Chauncey  Miirch  said  :  — 

The  great  reason  is  obedience  to  our  Saviour's  commands,  and  then, 
besides,  the  spiritual  needs  of  that  people.  Our  lives  are  full  of  blessing. 
These  blessings  have  been  showered  down  upon  us  in  great  abundance. 
I  know  of  no  reason  why  Africa  could  not  be  a  Christian  countrj'. 
I  pray  every  day  that  we  may  be  more  active  in  our  labors  while  we 
have  life  and  opportunity,  that  Africa's  dark  millions  may  be  brought 
to  the  feet  of  Christ. 

Mrs.  Spencer  Walton  said :  — 

I  think  the  great  reason  is  becaxise  there  are  two  hundred  and  fifty 
million  of  souls  there  who  should  be  redeemed.  Every  twenty-four 
hours  there  are  twenty  thousand  people  passing  into  eternity.  And 
then  another  reason  is  this:  they  are  ready  to  receive  the  Gospel.  Oh, 
friends,  the  heathen  are  crying  out  for  the  Gospel,  and  why  should 
there  not  be  a  more  earnest  effort  to  satisfy  their  thirst. 

Miss  Ellen  Groenendyke  said :  — 

The  reason  why  I  should  send  missionaries  would  be  to  elevate  the 

women  and  children  of  that  country.     I  wish  the  ladies  of  this  Con- 

ention  could  all  step  over  to  Africa  for  just  one  little  hour,  and  see 


The  World's  Conquest.  295 

the  degradation  of  the  women  of  that  country.     I  think  that  would  be 
sufficient  reason  why  there  should  be  missionaries  sent  to  Africa. 

Mr.  W.  E.  Blackstone  said :  — 

I  would  like  to  tell  you  that  if  I  were  not  represented  in  every  con- 
tinent on  the  face  of  the  globe,  I  could  not  sleep  to-night.  There  was 
once  an  African  chief  who  stopped  a  missionary  when  he  was  preach- 
ing, and  asked  him  if  he  were  sure  that  in  after  life  he  would  meet 
everybody  again.  The  missionary  assured  him  that  such  was  the  case, 
whereupon  he  said,  "Why  did  you  not  come  before?  Do  you  not 
know  that  I  have  with  my  own  hand  killed  at  least  one  hundred  peo- 
ple ?  "  Oh,  brother,  that  is  the  question  !  When  I  stand  in  the  pres- 
ence of  ray  Master,  and  I  hear  coming  up  from  some  dark  corner  a  cry, 
"  Why  did  you  not  come  before  ?  "  it  fills  me  with  grief  from  head  to 
foot. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  night  that  I  got  out  of  my  bed  at  twelve 
o'clock,  got  down  on  my  knees  and  promised  my  Master  that  I  would 
not  undertake  the  accumulation  of  any  more  worldly  goods  until  I 
tried  in  some  way  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen  for  at  least  two 
years.  I  do  not  know  what  made  me  say  two  j'ears,  but  I  remember 
quite  distinctly  that  I  stated  that  particular  length  of  time,  and  ever 
since  then  I  have,  thank  God,  been  in  the  service  of  my  Master. 

Upon  a  count  being  made  of  the  delegates  present  whose  intention 
it  was  to  go  to  Africa  as  missionaries,  it  was  found  that  the}'  numbered 
forty- eight. 

The  meeting  closed  with  a  most  impressive  season  of  prayer.  As 
all  stood  on  their  feet,  and  bowed  their  heads  in  silent  prayer,  it 
seemed  as  if  God  were  speaking  in  still  but  certain  tones.  In  a  few 
minutes  the  silence  was  broken,  and  here  and  there  all  over  the  room 
men  and  women  uttered  short  petitions  to  God  for  guidance  in  sen- 
tences which  came  from  the  heart. 


THE    LEVANT. 

Friday  Afternoon,  March  2,  1894. 
T.  H.  P.  Sailer,  Chairman. 

Christian  Reformation  in  the  Orient. 

Rev,  George  H.  Ford  said  :  — 

Constantinople,  the  capital  of  Eastern  Christendom,  was  besieged, 
and  attacked  by  the  Turks  with  their  matchless  vigor,  but  without 
avail.  At  length  the  invaders  realized  and  saw  the  need,  and  they 
built  over  against  the  city  the  very  strong  fortress  Rumelia,  now  the 
most  j^icturesque  object  on  that  far  famed  Bosphorus,  and  made  far 
more  interesting  to  us  by  the  Christian  college  which  is  placed  next  to 
this  fortress  in  that  commanding  position  on  those  wonderful  straits. 
This  fortress  built,  the  redoubtable  city  soon  surrendered,  and  the 
Byzantine  Empire  changed  masters,  and  became  the  Ottoman  Empire. 
Before  the  Ottoman  Empire  may  change  masters,  and  revert  to  Chris- 
tian domination  and  the  kingshij)  of  Jesus  Christ,  a  similar  step  must 
be  taken  over  against  Islam.  There  must  be  erected  the  fortress  of 
Christianity  with  Christ  Himself  as  king,  strong  with  Divine  strength. 
Such,  at  least,  seems  to  be  the  logical  history  of  missions  in  the 
Levant. 

It  may  safely  be  said  that  no  more  gifted  or  more  consecrated  mis- 
sionary workers  have  gone  into  the  world's  missionary  field  than  those 
who  have  during  nearly  a  century  toiled  in  the  Levant.  And  yet, 
looking  among  the  millions  of  the  followers  of  Islam  among  whom 
they  have  lived,  the  visible  results  are  very  insignificant  as  compared 
with  those  vouchsafed  to  missions  elsewhere,  among  non-Christian 
people.  And  the  individual  workers  have  none  of  them  been  given 
any  measure  of  success  that  approaches  that  of  those  Avho  have 
accepted  what  may  be   called  the  Divine  logic  of  the  situation,  and 


The  World's  Conquest.  297 

taken  hearty  hold  of  the  work  among  the  so-called  Christians  who 
inhabit  those  lands. 

This  Nazarine  population,  as  it  is  called  by  the  Orientals  themselves, 
numbers  not  less  than  a  dozen  millions,  all  under  Islamic  rule,  in  either 
Turkey,  Africa,  or  Asia,  or  under  the  nominal  protectorate  of  England 
in  Egypt.  And  the  large  missionary  force  that  is  now  practically 
devoting  its  main  energies  to  these  twelve  million  is  in  the  position  of 
the  Prophet  of  Nazareth  who  devoted  His  main  energies  while  on 
earth  to  His  disciples.  These  twelve  millions  are  only  the  key  to  ten 
times  twelve  million  and  over,  who  are  yet  in  darkness  in  that  land. 
We  do  not  believe  that  Christ's  seeking  first  the  lost  sheep  of  the 
House  of  Israel  was  a  mere  temporary  circumstance  or  detail  to  be 
changed  with  varying  circumstances,  but  rather  a  continuation  of  His 
policy  that  had  directed  His  dealings  with  the  world  for  many  cen- 
turies before  He  came.  It  might  be  clear  that  only  His  deliberate 
rejection  by  His  own  people  justified  Himself  and  His  apostles  in  turn- 
ing, so  to  speak,  their  backs  upon  them.  While  this  would  not  teach 
us  anything,  it  might,  at  least,  exjilain  to  us  why  the  doors  of  Islam 
remain  shut  while  other  doors  are  open  to  Christians  in  that  land. 

The  missionar}'  work  is  in  itself  an  enterprise  seeking  to  extermin- 
ate the  poison,  even  if  it  should  be  labeled  with  another  name :  seek- 
ing to  convert  men  even  if  they  are  marked  as  Christians.  No  man 
can  safety  say  to  us,  as  many  will  say  and  do  say,  "  You  ought  to  con- 
vert ^Mohammedans ;  it  is  not  your  business  to  convert  those  who  have 
any  knowledge  of  Christ."  No  one  could  say  that  to  us,  and  say  any 
different  words  to  those  who  seek  to  convert  the  drunkard  in  the  gutter 
in  the  city  of  Detroit.  Shall  we  be  justified  from  turning  from  the 
lost  sheep  of  the  House  of  Israel,  when  they  have  not  rejected  om- 
Master  ?  If  God  has  closed  one  door  against  us.  He  has  in  His  provi- 
dence opened  another.  That  is  the  logical  situation  ;  that  is  the  practi- 
cal question.  That  missionary  who  takes  his  Bible  and  goes  around 
among  these  Christians  finds  them  ready  to  receive  him.  And  I  would 
lay  great  stress  upon  this  accessible  population,  along  with  their  great 
destitution ;  and  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  and  some  of  my  friends  from 
the  East  are  here  to-day,  and  I  believe  they  would  fully  corroborate 
me,  that  apart  from  the  helpfiilness  of  the  Bible  as  presented  by  the 
missions,  we  cannot  believe  that  these  Oriental  Christians  are  any 
nearer  Heaven  than  their  pagan  companions.  And  if  we  were  to 
weigh  them  in  the  balances  we  should  be  comiDcIled  to  admit  that  in 
many  respects  they  are  inferior.  On  the  other  hand,  God's  unchange- 
able law  is  laid  down  and  carried  out,  "  That  he  to  whom  most  is 
given,  from  him  most  will  be  required,  and  he  who  falls  from  the 
highest  pinnacle  will  be  dashed  to  pieces  with  the  greater  destruction." 
They  have   vu-tually  banished   the   Word   of  God  from  their  midst. 


298  The  World's  Conquest. 

They  have  that  light,  but  because  they  have  shut  their  eyes  to  it,  they 
have  fallen  to  a  position  less  honorable  than  those  who  never  had  such 
light. 

On  that  question  we  find  Christians  the  chief  enemies  of  the  mis- 
sionary project.  Persecution  by  the  priestcraft  is  not  one-quarter  as 
bitter  as  the  persecutions  inflicted  by  the  so-called  Christians.  Where 
Moslems  interfere  it  is  generally  found  there  is  a  Christian  hand  behind, 
the  object  being  to  imprison  the  missionary  teacher  or  close  the  mis- 
sionary school.  Again,  there  has  been  poured  into  these  parts  streams 
of  degraded  literature,  from  American  and  European  sources,  mostly 
European,  that  have  caused  us  to  hang  our  heads  before  this  Islamic 
population.  Even  certain  foul  and  loathsome  diseases  are  known  in 
Asia  as  Christian  diseases,  and  a  drunkard  seen  there  is  known  as  "  Eng- 
lish drunk," —  something  that  was  not  known  until  sailoi's  rolled  about 
their  streets  intoxicated.  The  teachings  of  infidelity,  in  which  the  ex- 
istence of  God  is  denied,  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  English  population, 
has  worked  its  way  into  the  Christian  ranks.  Then  we  find  there  is  a 
need  of  evangelizing  these  Oriental  Christians,  in  order  to  place  before 
the  Moslems  a  religion  which  may  properly  be  called  Christianity :  in 
the  first  place,  because  not  themselves  Christians ;  in  the  second  place, 
because  of  their  value  as  an  evangelizing  agency  and  because  they  are 
stumbling  blocks,  standing  where  they  do  in  an  evangelical  attitude; 
and  stumbling  blocks  in  the  way  of  those  who  wish  to  know  the 
Christian  religion  as  it  is.  For  all  these  reasons  we  find  that  God  lays 
upon  us  the  lost  sheep  first,  and  when  they  shall  become  in  fact  His 
own  people,  instead  of  a  handful  of  missionaries  these  twelve  million 
will  be  missionaries. 

Having  brushed  away  the  cardinal  points  we  shall  find  they  will  be 
reached  far  more  quickly  than  any  class  to  whom  we  may  go.  Blessed 
be  God,  the  work  that  has  been  accomplished  among  these  Oriental 
Christians  was  begun  by  Divine  guidance ;  for,  as  I  say,  the  mission- 
aries did  not  go  to  the  Christians  first,  they  did  not  seek  to  form  a  new 
sect.  The  missionaries  resisted,  with  all  their  strength  at  first,  the 
abandonment  by  these  Christians  of  their  own  native  churches, —  Ar- 
menian, Greek,  Catholic,  whatever  they  were.  They  taught  them,  re- 
quested them,  wanted  them  to  stay  in  their  own  churches,  live  in  their 
own  churches,  and  so  reform  the  churches  in  which  they  lived.  They 
tried  hard  to  bring  about  that  result,  but  God  did  not  so  will  it.  So 
these  people,  instead  of  being  able  to  reform  their  own  sect,  were  thrust 
out,  and  they  were  oljliged  to  become  a  new  sect  of  evangelical  Chris- 
tians. It  has  been  simply  forced  upon  the  Protestant  Church  to  care 
for  the  rejected  converts  who  would  not  be  tolerated  while  reading 
the  Bible  and  following^  their  consciences  —  would  not  be  tolerated  in 


The  World's  Conquest.  299 

an}^  of  the  sects  of  the  olden  time.  There  we  are  then  with  a  Protes- 
tant community  forced  upon  us,  that  has  ah'eady  commenced  to  do  the 
work ;  and  you,  many  of  whom  God  has  led  to  think  of  devoting 
your  lives  to  that  work,  remember  this :  the  first  thing  in  dealing 
with  these  native  Christians  is  that  they  are  to  be  evangelized. 

The  point  which  I  most  love  to  draw  their  attention  to  is  this  one 
point, —  the  missionary  spirit.  I  say  to  them,  "You  are  my  brethren, 
that  call  3'-ourselves  Christians ; "  and  they  say,  "  We  are  Christians  like 
you  ;  we  have  the  Bible,  and  we  believe  in  Christ."  I  say,  "  You  have 
been  here  all  these  centuries,  and  you  have  never  tried  to  convert  one 
soul  to  Christ.  Our  Christianity  is  like  the  air  which  must  fill  up 
every  vacuum.  It  is  like  the  water,  that  must  fill  up  every  space  that 
can  be  found  that  is  not  already  full.  It  is  like  the  blood  that  must  fill 
up  every  spot  where  the  life  giving  fluid  should  enter.  It  is  like  the 
light  which  enters  every  aperture."  So  this  is  what  we  are  seeking 
to  do,  little  by  little,  to  bring  them  to  that  standpoint  of  true  evangel- 
ism, by  which  we  may  expect  in  a  short  time  the  Avhole  nation  shall 
be  turned  in  a  day,  because  of  this  mighty  influence  coming  from 
within, —  because   of   the  reform  by  the  living  Word  of  God. 

The  Strategic  Import  or  Missions  in  the  Levant. 

Rev.  James  S.  Dennis,  D.D.,  said :  — 

If  there  is  any  department  of  Divine  activity  in  which  we  may  ex- 
pect to  discover  a  controlling  purpose  it  is  in  missions.  The  very  idea 
of  missions  implies  far-reaching  plans  in  the  mind  of  God.  The  word, 
popular  and  commonplace  thoi;gh  it  may  seem,  stands  for  all  that  the 
promises  and  prophecies  and  high  behests  of  God  mean  to  the  world. 
Let  us  see  if  we  can  read  the  design  of  Providence  in  Levantine  mis- 
sions. Let  us  see  if  there  is  not  a  large  ulterior  aim  in  view,  with  a 
wealth  of  meaning  and  an  affluence  of  results  which,  without  irrever- 
ence, may  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  a  strategic  purpose,  the  full  sig- 
nificance of  which  God  will  unfold  in  its  proper  time.  The  Levant  is 
old  strategic  ground  in  the  religious  history  of  the  world.  It  was  the 
rallying  ground  of  those  sublime  supernatural  foi'ces  which  culminated 
in  the  Incarnation  and  the  founding  of  the  Christian  Church.  It  was 
the  arena  of  the  early  conflicts  of  Christian  history,  the  birthplace  of 
apostolic  missions.  It  is  still  a  strategic  region,  and  we  shall  venture 
to  name  some  aspects  of  the  outlook  which  we  consider  as  suggestive 
of  mighty  and  far-reaching  plans. 

(1)  Missions  in  the  Levant  contemplate  a  Christian  reformation  in 
Western  Asia.  There  is  a  large  nominal  Christian  population  scattered 
throughout  the  Orient,  having  strong  afiinities  on  the  north  with,  the 


300  The  World's  Conquest. 

Russian  branch  of  the  Eastern  Church,  and  on  the  south  coming  into 
touch  with  the  Abyssinian  remnant  of  early  Christianity.  The  Eastern 
or  Greek  Churcli,  whicli  extends  in  scattered  communities  throughout 
the  Levant,  with  its  contiguous  and  affiliated  branches  in  the  Balkan 
Peninsula  and  in  Russia,  the  Armenian,  the  Nestorian,  the  Maronite, 
and  the  Coptic,  with  Papal  offshoots  scattered  in  many  localities,  present 
a  vast  body  of  nominal  Christianity  which  needs  an  evangelical  refor- 
mation quite  as  much  as  was  the  case  with  European  Christianity  in  the 
sixteenth  century.  We  may  safely  estimate  Levantine  Christianity  and 
its  outlying  affiliated  brotherhood  of  the  Eastern  Church  as  representing 
one  hundred  million  souls.  This  would  be  about  equal  to  the  entire 
Christian  population  of  Euroi)e  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Here  is  a 
magnificent  arena  for  evangelical  reformation.  The  old  battle  is  to  be 
fought  over  again.  Souls  are  to  be  rescued  from  superstition  and  from 
the  blighting  influence  of  a  degraded  sacerdotalism.  Christianity,  even 
with  all  its  corruptions,  has  had  a  hard  fight  for  life.  It  was  enfeebled, 
after  its  early  conquest  of  the  Roman  Empire,  by  the  growing  degen- 
eracy connected  with  the  rise  of  the  Papacy,  and  the  Moslem  domina- 
tion with  its  staggering  blows  attacked  it  in  its  enervation,  and  has  held 
it  in  subjection  for  centuries.  Christianity  in  its  defensive  struggles 
has  taken  refuge  in  worldly  devices  and  political  alliances.  It  has  given 
little  attention  to  its  higher  resources  of  spiritual  dependence  upon  God, 
and  has  compromised  too  readily  with  the  world,  and  leaned  too 
heavily  upon  empty  formalism  and  its  hierarchical  system.  The  result 
of  all  this  is  that  Eastern  Christianity  is  in  fast  alliance  with  worldli- 
ness,  and  only  a  great  spiritual  upheaval  can  work  its  deliverance. 
The  reform  must  work  from  within  outward  in  order  to  be  efficient. 
Christianity  in  the  East  must  be  born  again  if  it  is  to  know  the  power 
of  a  new  life.  A  reformation  so  radical  and  vital  as  this  requires  long 
and  2>atient  preparation.  There  were  a  hundred  years  of  providential 
anticipation  of  the  Reformation  in  Europe.  We  believe  the  reformation 
in  Western  Asia  requires  possibly  even  a  longer  period  for  the  full 
development  of  God's  plans,  but  the  day  of  Divine  visitation  will  come 
and  we  shall  have  a  reformed  East.  Christianity  will  be  baptized  again 
with  spiritual  life  amidst  the  scenes  of  its  early  triumphs. 

(2)  Another  ulterior  aim  of  missions  in  the  Levant  is  to  purify 
Christianity,  and  redeem  it  from  its  unworthiness  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Mohammedan  world.  Christianity  in  the  East  has  been  in  disgrace 
during  all  the  centuries  of  Mohammedan  history.  The  Moslem  has 
always  beheld  it  under  false  colors.  He  has  formed  his  opinion  of  it 
upon  utterly  misleading  evidence.  Apostate  Christianity  has  posed  in 
place  of  the  true.  The  influence  upon  the  Moslem  has  been  to  the 
serious  discredit  of  Christianity.  What  judgment  could  he  pass  upon 
Mariolatry  and  sacerdotalism  and  the  idolatrous  reverence  rendered  to 


The  World's  Conquest.  301 

pictures  and  images?  IIow  could  we  expect  liim  to  regard  the  all- 
pervading  cei'emonialism,  the  fiction  of  the  mass,  the  doctrine  of  pur- 
gatorjf,  and  the  tricks  of  priestly  absolution  ?  There  is  enough  which 
it  is  difficult  for  a  Moslem  to  receive  in  the  evangelical  doctrines  of  the 
Trinity,  the  Incarnation,  and  the  Atonement.  lie,  like  all  of  us,  must 
be  taught  of  God  and  be  enlightened  by  the  Spirit  even  to  receive  the 
Scriptural  truth  which  is  involved  in  the  Christian  system.  To  expect 
him  to  receive  Avith  respect  the  corruptions  of  Oriental  Christianity, 
especially  the  absurdities  of  llomish  doctrine,  and  to  declare  his 
allegiance  to  a  system  at  once  so  false  and  puerile,  is  not  only  ante- 
cedently improbable,  but  has  been  shown  to  be  historically  impossible. 
If  Christianity  is  ever  to  touch  the  Moslem  heart  it  must  be  full  of 
evangelical  power  and  beauty,  and  freed  from  the  corruptions  with 
which  it  has  been  overlaid  in  the  East.  Islam  will  never  be  converted 
by  Oriental  Christianit}^,  and  there  is  a  strategic  preparation  vitally 
important  and  absolutely  necessary  in  a  reformed  Christianity  which 
can  be  presented  as  the  true  religion  of  Christ  as  He  gave  it  to  men. 

(3)  Missions  in  the  Levant  are  strategic  in  their  relation  to  the 
ultimate  conversion  of  the  Moslem  world.  The  Turkish  Empire, 
although  it  is  not  cordially  and  loyally  recognized  as  such  by  all  Mo- 
hammedans, is  nevertheless  in  effect  the  religious,  political,  and  military 
center  of  Islam.  The  Khalif  at  Constantinople,  whatever  suspicion 
may  rest  upon  his  claim,  is  still  the  only  accredited  successor  of  the 
Prophet.  There  are  at  times  signs  of  intellectual  and  political  unrest 
among  the  wider  constituency  of  Islam,  yet,  so  far  as  the  insignia  of 
supreme  headship  is  concerned,  it  is  in  the  possession  at  the  present 
hour  of  the  Ottoman  Sultan.  If  Mohammedanism  were  called  to  rally 
to  a  religions  JehcaJ,  or  holy  war,  it  would  be  around  the  throne  of  the 
Ottomans.  Levantine  missions  are  strategicall}'  near  this  heart  of  the 
Mohammedan  system.  With  Oriental  Christianity  as  a  basis  of  work, 
the  Gospel  is  being  planted  in  its  purity  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  Levant.  As  in  the  days  of  the  Roman  Empire,  when 
Christianity  was  working  towards  the  overthrow  of  pagan  Rome,  so  in 
our  day  it  is  scattering  itself  far  and  wide  through  city  and  village  and 
hamlet  of  the  Levant,  and  is  infringing  at  a  thousand  points  upon 
Levantine  societ}'.  There  has  been  a  wonderful  and  steady  co-opera- 
tion of  Providence  in  limiting  the  political  and  miUtary  supremacy  of 
the  Turkish  power.  What  has  once  been  lost  has  never  been  gained 
again.  Side  by  side  with  political  disintegration  has  grown  up  the 
intellectual  and  spiritual  transformations  of  modern  missions.  The 
heart  of  Mohammedanism  already  begins  to  feel  the  pressure  of  this 
resistless  combination.  It  does  not  beat  as  freely  and  as  proudly  and 
as  calmly  as  it  once  did.  We  observe  now  and  then  what  seems  very 
much  like  a  spasm  of  distress  and  alann.     There  is  quick  and  irregular 


302  The  World's  Conquest. 

pulsation  which  reveals  the  presence  of  some  internal  disorder.  In  the 
meanwhile  the  outlook  is  clearing  and  broadening.  It  would  be  pre- 
sumptuous in  this  connection  to  speak  with  any  assurance,  but  when 
we  consider  the  progress  already  made  by  the  leavening  power  of  mis- 
sions in  the  Orient,  the  existence  of  the  Word  of  God,  either  entire  or 
in  part,  in  eleven  distinct  languages  of  the  Levant,  the  wide  dissemina- 
tion of  Christian  literature,  and  the  pervasive  power  of  Christian  edu- 
cation, we  must  recognize  that  Divine  forces  are  marshalling  them- 
selves with  a  mysterious  celerity  and  a  strategic  combination  all 
throughout  Western  Asia.  When  we  note  also  the  political  changes 
of  the  last  fifty  years,  the  present  unrest  throughout  the  Turkish  Em- 
pire, the  unrelaxed  grasp  of  England  upon  Egypt,  and  all  the  burning 
questions  of  Levantine  diplomacy  which  the  Christian  governments  of 
Europe  are  called  to  keep  in  abeyance,  we  must  realize  that  God's 
providential  plans  are  ripening  fast.  Then,  too,  a  new  approach  to  Islam 
has  been  opened  through  Arabia.  There  is  religious  liberty  in  EgyjJt, 
with  a  wonderful  spirit  of  inquiry  and  a  large  demand  for  religious 
literature.  In  Persia  the  Spirit  of  God  seems  to  be  directly  at  work 
upon  multitudes  of  Moslem  hearts.  There  is  strategy  deeper  than  the 
wisdom  of  man,  as  deej:)  as  the  counsels  of  God,  in  all  this.  Let  us 
bide  God's  time,  and  go  patiently  forward  in  the  conscientious  dis- 
charge of  our  duty  during  these  preparatory  stages.  When  the  strat- 
egy is  unfolded,  we  shall  rejoice  that  we  had  the  faith  and  the  conse- 
cration to  do  our  part  during  the  quiet  years  when  God  was  working 
in  the  light  of  His  own  secret  purposes. 

(4)  There  is  a  strategic  import  also  in  missions  as  related  to  the 
languages  of  the  Levant.  Where  there  are  so  many  nationalities  there 
is  a  corresponding  variety  of  language.  Missionaries  have  mastered 
and  appropriated  these  many  vehicles  of  thought,  and  have  made  them 
messengers  of  divine  instruction  to  many  peoples.  The  miracle  of  the 
Day  of  Pentecost  was  simply  typical  of  missionary  activities  in  the 
nineteenth  century  throughout  almost  the  identical  region  whence 
came  those  many-tongued  speakers  of  "the  wonderful  works  of  God." 
Evangelistic  preaching  and  missionary  literature  are  disseminating 
to-day  in  many  tongues  throughout  the  Levant  the  same  teachings 
of  revelation  which  the  apostles  gave  to  the  world.  Listen,  for  ex- 
ample, to  the  languages  in  which  the  Bible  speaks  to-day  in  the  Orient. 
Almost  all  these  translations  are  the  work  of  modern  missionaries. 
There  is  the  noble  Arabic,  the  ancient  and  modei'n  Armenian,  the 
Osmanli  Turkish,  the  Persian,  the  Syriac,  the  Kurdish,  the  Armenian 
Kurdish,  the  Bulgarian,  the  modern  Greek,  and  the  Albanian.  Eleven 
distinct  languages.  In  addition  to  these  primary  languages,  there  are 
many  editions  of  the  Bible  in  which  these  same  translations  are  printed 
in  different  characters  so  that  they  may  be  read  by  various  classes  of 


The  World's  Conquest.  303 

that  jDolyglot  empire.  The  Turkish  Bible  is  printed  in  the  Azerbijani, 
the  Armenian,  and  the  Greek  characters ;  the  Persian,  which  is  printed 
ordinarily  in  Arabic,  is  also  jjrinted  in  the  Hebrew  character ;  the 
Arabic  is  issued  also  in  Hebrew  and  Syriac ;  the  Syi'iac  is  printed  in 
Nestorian  or  Chaldaic,  the  Kurdish  in  Armenian,  the  Coptic  in  Arabic, 
the  Albanian  in  both  a  northern  and  southern  dialect,  and  the  Greek 
in  Roman  characters, —  making  in  all  twelve  varieties  of  printed  Scrip- 
tures. There  are  also  raised  editions  for  the  blind,  in  Armenian,  Jew- 
ish, and  Arabic;  making  in  all  twenty-six  distinct  translations  and 
printed  variations  of  the  sacred  Scriptures  for  use  in  the  Levant. 
What  is  done  for  the  Bible  is  also  done  to  a  large  extent  in  the 
dissemination  of  religious  and  educational  literature,  and  in  the  cir- 
culation of  newspajsers  and  journals.  Missions  are  thus  laying  siege 
through  every  avenue  of  approach  to  the  intellectual  and  religious 
thought  of  the  East. 

The  strategic  import  of  all  this  will  appear  when  we  reflect  that 
these  languages  which  1  have  named  represent  the  vernacular  of  an 
estimated  population  of  not  less  than  eighty  millions.  If  we  take  the 
Arabic  alone,  it  may  be  considered  by  a  very  conservative  estimate  the 
medium  for  reaching  at  least  forty  million  souls.  It  is  the  spoken 
tongue  of  Northern  Africa,  the  Eastern  Soudan,  Arabia,  Palestine, 
Syria,  and  Mesopotamia.  It  is  the  sacred  language,  although  not 
necessarily  the  vernacular,  of  Mohammedans  everywhere  throughout 
the  world.  Consider  now  what  Christian  missions  have  put  into  this  one 
language  within  a  half  century.  There  is  the  Bible  in  thirty  editions. 
There  are  five  hundred  distinct  volumes  of  religious,  educational,  scien- 
tific, historical,  and  popiilar  literature  issued  from  the  Beirut  Press  of 
the  American  Presbyterian  Mission.  An  average  of  twenty-five  million 
pages  is  printed  at  that  press  annually ;  and  the  total  of  pages  printed 
since  its  establishment  is  five  hundred  millions.  The  Beirut  Mission 
Press  has  become  a  distributing  center  for  Arabic  literature  through- 
out the  world.  As  we  contemplate  this  marvellous  achievement,  can 
we  not  read  the  signs  of  a  strategic  purpose  in  the  Divine  mind  to  sub- 
sidize through  Levantine  missions  a  magnificent  language  for  His  own 
purposes  ? 

(5)  Still  another  outlook  of  Divine  purpose  in  Levantine  missions 
may  be  discovered  in  the  fact  that  they  are  a  training-ground  for 
future  missionary  service  by  native  agents.  Native  missionaries  from 
the  Levant,  according  to  the  varied  affinity  of  their  vernacular,  could 
be  sent  northward,  eastward,  southward,  and  westward,  along  the 
northern  shores  of  Africa.  Already  Persian  evangelists  have  crossed 
the  Caucasus,  and  have  penetrated  the  mountains  of  Kurdistan,  and 
Arabic-speaking  Syrians  have  gone  to  the  Mesopotamian  Valley,  to 
Arabia,  Egypt,  the  Soudan,  and  along  the  northern  shores  of  Africa. 


304  The  World's  Conquest. 

The  high  schools  and  colleges  of  the  Levant  are  giving  exceptional 
educational  facilities  to  young  men  and  women,  who,  if  God  chooses, 
can  do  a  noble  missionary  work  for  Him  in  distant  regions.  We  are 
as  yet  only  beginning  to  see  the  import  of  this  feature  of  Levantine 
missions.  I  am  myself  personally  acquainted  with  young  Arabic- 
speaking  evangelists  who  were  educated  in  our  mission  schools  in 
Syria,  who  are  at  present  engaged  in  mission  work  in  Mesopotamia, 
Palestine,  Southern  Arabia,  Egypt,  Algeria,  and  Morocco.  Only 
recently  there  has  come  a  call  from  China  for  an  educated  Arabic- 
speaking  evangelist,  familiar  with  Mohammedan  literature,  to  enter 
upon  the  work  among  Chinese  Mohammedans.  When  God's  plans 
are  ripe  He  can  scatter  native  Levantine  missionaries  from  China  on 
the  east  to  Morocco  on  the  west,  and  from  the  Caucasus  to  the  south- 
ern coasts  of  Arabia. 

(6)  We  believe  there  is  still  a  further  strategic  meaning  to  Levan- 
tine missions  in  the  fact  that  the  people  of  the  East  are  being  trained 
and  elevated  for  political  and  national  responsibilities  in  connection 
with  changes  which  the  providence  of  God  will  bring  about  in  the 
East.  A  day  of  reckoning  must  come  in  the  Orient.  God  will  not 
allow  injustice  and  wrong  to  sit  upon  the  throne  forever.  The  siibject 
nationalities  of  the  Levant,  however,  need  a  long  and  severe  training 
to  fit  them  to  assume  the  duties  of  political  power,  but  already  in  the 
case  of  Bulgaria  we  have  an  object  lesson  of  the  influence  of  a  mis- 
sionary institution  like  Robert  College  in  training  young  Bulgaria  for 
national  responsibilities  when  the  hour  of  her  deliverance  struck.  No 
one  can  prophesy  what  political  changes  will  be  wrought  in  the  Levant 
during  the  coming  century,  but  the  changes  when  they  come  will  find 
the  various  nationalities  of  the  East  prepared  by  the  evangelical  and 
educational  work  of  American  missionaries  to  assume  a  worthy  share 
in  the  new  religious,  political,  and  social  environment  into  which  God 
may  design  to  introduce  them.  When  the  cross  rather  than  the 
crescent  shall  be  the  symbol  of  j)ower  and  the  sign  of  hope  and  prog- 
ress throughout  the  Levant,  then  will  the  humble  and  patient  toils  of 
American  missionaries  during  all  these  years  of  preparation  be  mani- 
fest to  the  world,  and  reflect  in  results  both  brilliant  and  timely  the 
great  strategic  thoughts  of  God  in  His  missionary  plans  for  the  Orient. 

The  Present  Evangelistic  Outlook  in  the  Levant. 

The  Rev.  Frederick  G.  Coan,  of  Oroomiah,  Persia,  said:  — 

In  speaking  of  the  present  evangelistic  outlook  in  the  Levant,  I 
shall  only,  as  a  side  issue,  speak  of  the  nominal  Christians  who  are 
there,  confining  my  remarks  more  especially  to  the  Mohammedan  situ- 
ation, and  that  as  rejDresented  more  especially  in  Persia  itself.     And  I 


The  World's  Conquest.  305 

hope  that,  before  I  am  through,  if  any  of  you  have  come  here  with  the 
belief  or  conviction  that  work  among  the  Mohammedans  is  impossible, 
that  you  will  go  away  with  your  minds  changed.  It  is  necessary,  first, 
to  consider  somewhat  the  importance  of  Persia  itself.  Not  only  are 
we  centrally  situated  in  a  geographical  point  of  view,  but  Persia  itself 
seems  to  be  the  point  from  which  the  Mohammedan  world  is  to  be 
most  easily  reached.  The  work  in  Persia  comes  in  two  or  three  lines, 
one  of  which  has  been  mentioned  by  the  speaker  who  preceded  me. 
The  Nestorians  number  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand, —  nearly  thirty 
thousand  in  Persia,  and  the  remaining  portion  lying  west  of  that  moun- 
tainous region.  Now,  the  very  fact  that  God  in  His  providence  has  so 
blessed  our  labors  among  this  nation,  with  whom  we  have  been  work- 
ing for  fifty-eight  years  or  nearly  that,  is  in  itself  a  great  incentive  for 
work  in  that  country.  Remember,  in  Persia,  Turkey,  and  SjTia  these 
Christian  sects  remain  :  they  exist,  but  they  are  being  rapidly  evangel- 
ized ;  and  as  they  ai'e  evangelized  the  influence  which  is  going  out  from 
this  Christian  influence  to  other  Mohammedans  is  an  influence  that 
cannot  be  overestimated,  it  is  a  tide  that  cannot  be  resisted.  We  have 
good  reasons  to  think  that  the  eighty-five  thousand  Nestorians  of  far- 
ther India  and  China  will  in  time  to  come  carry  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
throughout  all  this  Mohammedan  region  that  sm-rounds  them.  An- 
other encouragement,  as  we  look  at  Persia  itself,  comes  from  the  fact 
that  the  Mohammedans  of  Persia  are  somewhat  different  from  other 
Mohammedans.  The  Mohammedans  of  Persia  are  the  Sunnites,  and 
those  of  Turkey  are  the  Shi'ites  ;  and  they  hate  each  other  more  bitterly 
than  the  Mohammedan  does  the  Christian.  To-day  there  is  noth- 
ing that  delights  a  Mohammedan  in  Persia  more  than  to  be  able 
to  convict  a  Shi'ite.  That  is  a  fact  that  is  encouraging,  because  it  gives 
us  greater  access  to  the  Mohammedans  of  that  country.  The  Sunnites 
are  themselves  divided  up  into  many  sects.  The  Babis  are  a  very  in- 
teresting sect,  and  are  going  to  form  a  feature  in  christianizing  Persia. 
To-day  they  hold  their  own,  and  they  have  come  to  stay.  These  Babis 
are  accessible.  In  the  city  of  Oroomiah,  where  I  live,  all  of  our  quar- 
ter of  the  city  consists  mostly  of  Babis.  And  you  can  go  into  their 
houses  and  preach  to  them  and  talk  to  them ;  and  you  will  find  wher- 
ever you  go  that  they  are  accessible.  And  the  same  with  these  other 
sects.  Then  another  fact  for  encouragement  is  the  general  spiiit  of 
unrest  that  you  will  find  throughout  the  Levant.  I  know  it  is  the 
same  in  Turkey,  and  it  is  the  same  in  Syria,  and  it  is  remai'kably  so  in 
Persia;  as  you  go  among  the  Mohammedans  you  will  find  they  are 
not  satisfied,  they  are  anxious  to  throw  off  the  system.  You  will  find 
many  of  the  leading  Mohammedans,  those  that  belong  to  the  nobility, 
who  are  not  Mohammedans  at  heart.  They  have  no  sympathy  with 
the  system ;  they  know  it  is  opposed  to  all  progress  and  reform.     The 


306  The  World's  Conquest. 

Shah  Avould  be  glad  to  put  these  ecclesiastics  out  of  the  way.     They 
are  the  men  that  are  opposing  him  in  every  reform. 

What  is  being  done  to-day  to  reach  the  Mohammedans  of  Persia? 
As  om-  brother  just  told  you,  a  great  many  ask  us  why  don't  you 
preach  directly  to  the  Mohammedans?  We  find  we  cannot  preach 
directly  to  them ;  I  mean,  to-day  it  would  be  impossible  for  us  to  estab- 
lish a  large  mission  openly  for  work  among  the  Mohammedans.  It 
has  to  be  done  under  cover  there.  These  Christian  nations  forming 
these  Christian  sects,  we  are  working  more  and  more  every  year.  In 
looking  at  the  beginning  of  this,  I  want  to  take  you  back  a  few  years, 
and  show  you  what  instruments  God  raises  up  for  that  service.  A 
great  many  of  you  think  that  the  men  who  go  out  among  these  Mo- 
hammedans to  work  must  be  men  who  have  undergone  great  training. 
I  do  not  want  to  underrate  the  training  necessary  for  this  work  in  the 
East,  but  there  is  a  qualification  that  will  go  ahead  of  all  the  rest :  the 
man  whose  heart  is  full  of  love  and  enthusiasm  has,  in  his  desire  to  see 
their  souls  won,  an  earnest  of  success. 

To  illustrate  this :  I  suppose  it  was  about  twelve  years  ago,  while 
taking  my  course  in  the  seminary,  there  was  a  man  about  forty- 
five  years  of  age,  maybe  a  little  older,  who  became  very  much  inter- 
ested in  the  work  for  the  Mohammedans.  He  was  a  man  who  wanted 
to  go  out  and  do  what  he  could  for  them.  This  man's  name  was 
Hobay,  a  gate  keeper,  a  man  ignorant  and  uncultured,  with  no  educa- 
tion at  all,  and  was  the  last  man  you  would  have  chosen  in  that  field, 
to  go  out  and  engage  in  that  work.  You  might  have  found  a  man  of 
better  preparation,  educated  in  Arabic :  this  man  knew  nothing  of  it ; 
but  his  heart  was  filled  with  a  burning  love  for  souls,  so  he  asked  us  to 
send  him  out  as  an  evangelist  to  the  Mohammedans.  He  learned  how 
to  read  Arabic.  What  was  the  power  of  that  man  ?  It  was  only  the 
simple,  pure  Christian  life.  That  man  went  out  into  the  villages 
around  Oroomiah.  On  that  plain  we  have  three  or  four  hundred  vil- 
lages, and  he  soon  won  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  Moham- 
medans. And  he  was  soon  called  a  Dervish, —  that  is,  the  chief  Chris- 
tian, a  man  who  is  unable  to  lie.  The  man  spoke  the  truth  from  his 
heart,  and  because  he  believed  it.  That  man  was  able  to  go  right  to 
them  in  a  kind  spirit,  not  an  angry  spirit,  nor  in  a  spirit  of  antagonism, 
but  in  the  spirit  of  Christ,  to  tell  them  Mohammedism  was  a  fraud, 
that  there  was  no  hope  in  Mohammed,  and  their  only  hope  was  in 
Jesxis  Christ.  He  was  soon  able  to  preach  in  their  mosques.  In  Per- 
sia a  man  is  not  allowed  to  enter  them ;  in  Turkey  they  are  not  so 
strict.  But  in  a  great  many  places  they  invited  him  into  the  mosques, 
they  made  way  for  him,  and  gave  him  a  place  near  them,  saying,  "  Let 
him  speak  to  us  of  the  Word  of  God."  He  was  invited  to  their  festi- 
vals on  various  occasions,  and  always  heard  with  respect.     One  day  he 


The  World's  Conquest.  307 

was  discussing  with  three  fanatical  Mohammedans  on  the  street.  He 
was  speaking  about  the  claims  of  Christianity,  and  two  or  three  Chris- 
tians met  him,  and  they  said,  "  You  will  precipitate  a  massacre  upon 
the  Christians ;  withdraw."  The  Mohammedans  knew  something  of 
their  Avishes,  and  turning  to  the  Christians  they  said,  "  Why  are  you  so 
afraid?  Why  don't  you  speak  the  truth  as  fearlessly  as  he  does  ?  He 
not  only  speaks  the  truth,  but  what  he  speaks  is  true."  So  the  Chris- 
tians were  put  to  sliame  and  rebuked  by  those  whom  they  feared,  and 
they  remained  there  and  heard  the  story  through.  They  so  hated 
Hobay  at  one  time  that  they  hired  some  robbers  to  put  him  out  of  the 
way.  He  was  met  b}^  those  robbers,  and  they  told  him  to  get  ready  to 
die.  He  said,  "  I  am  not  afraid  to  die,"  and  he  knelt  on  the  ground, 
and  offered  up  a  prayer ;  and  when  he  arose  up,  the  robbers  were 
weeping.  They  laid  their  rifles  on  the  ground,  and  said,  "  We  cannot 
kill  a  man  like  that."  When  he  died,  hundreds,  including  Moham- 
medans, Jews,  and  Christians  from  all  j^arts  of  the  plain,  came  to  his 
funeral.  The  reason  I  dwell  so  particularly  on  this  is,  there  was  a  be- 
ginning, as  you  might  say.  That  shows  the  Mohammedans  were 
accessible.  If  we  had  the  right  kind  of  a  man,  we  could  get  at  them. 
Not  long  after  that,  a  young  man  came  u]j  and  offered  to  take  his 
place,  and  directly  there  was  organized  there  one  of  our  principal 
missions,  the  Northern  Persian  Mission. 

What  is  the  plan  and  scope  of  that  work  ?  We  are  trying  to  get 
active  young  men,  workers  who  are  willing  to  take  their  lives  in  their 
hands,  and  leave  their  families  at  home,  and  who  are  willing  to  go  out 
for  merely  what  it  costs  them  to  live,  and  preach  to  the  Mohammedans. 
We  stai-ted  with  two,  and  this  year  we  had  ten  young  men  going  out 
two  by  two,  and  working  among  the  Mohammedan  villages.  After  a 
while  we  saw  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to  coujile  medicine  with  the 
evangelistic  work,  and  we  took  one  or  two  of  these  young  men  and 
thouglit  we  would  give  them  a  trial,  and  see  if  we  were  able  m  that 
way  to  get  the  key  that  unlocks  the  heart  and  reaches  this  people. 
That  work  has  been  growing  until  ultimately  we  will  take  in  the 
Kurds  as  well  as  the  Mohammedans  of  Persia  itself.  It  is  a  work 
that  has  been  wonderfully  blest.  The  report  of  those  young  men,  as 
they  came  from  their  tom's  among  the  five  hundred  villages  in  which 
the  Gospel  is  preached,  was  that  there  were  only  three  villages  where 
they  were  rebuked  and  where  they  did  not  receive  the  Word  kindly. 
And  the  young  men,  after  looking  it  over  carefully,  said,  "  We  are 
fully  convinced  that  there  are  two  hundred  Mohammedans  who  are 
earnestly  seeking  the  way  to  life." 

I  want  to  touch  upon  another  way  in  which  we  are  reaching  them, 
and  that  is,  through  the  colporteurs,  and  through  the  Word  of  God. 
Over  sixty  thousand  volumes  of  the  Scriptures  are  being  read  by  the 


308  The  World's  Conquest. 

Mohammedans,  and  scattered  throughout  Persia.  What  a  power  that 
Word  of  God  is.  One  illustration  of  how  it  is  working  in  a  quiet  way 
that  many  of  us  have  no  knowledge  of  :  On  our  way  home  last  year  we 
came  into  a  Mohammedan  village  and  wondered  where  we  should  be 
entertained,  as  we  had  been  there  eight  years  before,  and  the  accom- 
modations were  very  poor.  A  man  outside  the  village  met  us  and  put 
everything  he  had  at  our  disposal,  and  treated  us  as  kindly  as  anybody 
could  treat  a  Christian.  I  went  out  after  everyone  had  gone  away  and 
he  was  sitting  in  an  outer  room,  and  I  asked  him  how  it  was  he  had 
treated  us  so  kindly ;  and  he  said,  "  Because  you  are  men  of  God ; 
you  are  the  best  men  that  ever  come  to  this  country.  And  he  took  up 
the  Bible  and  he  said,  "  That  is  the  Word  of  God.  I  have  been  reading 
that  Word  and  I  am  convinced  that  the  only  Word  of  God  is  in  that 
book."  And  as  a  result  of  the  conversation  I  had  there  with  that  man, 
he  went  over  to  the  mosque  the  next  morning,  where  the  people  met 
for  worship,  and  he  repeated  word  for  word  all  I  had  told  him,  and  he 
said  to  the  people  there,  "  This  is  the  Word  of  God,  and  this  is  the 
Gospel  and  Word  that  has  come  here  to  Persia,  and  it  is  going  to 
change  this  country  and  the  people  who  believe  it." 

And  I  can  give  you  many  more  instances  brought  in  by  our  colpor- 
teurs, showing  that  the  Word  is  read  here  and  there,  and  is  bringing  forth 
fruit.  One  of  our  helpers,  sent  out  in  the  city  of  Oroomiah,  opened  the 
door  and  found  a  group  worshiping.  What  was  his  astonishment  at 
hearing  them  reading  from  the  Gospel  of  John,  third  and  fourth  chap- 
ters. With  turbans  removed  after  they  had  read,  they  offered  up  short 
prayers.  The  man  was  dumfounded.  There  were  sixteen  Moham- 
medans, and  they  were  met  there  to  study  the  Word  of  God.  After 
they  were  through  they  said  to  him,  "  This  is  our  habit ;  we  hope  you 
will  say  nothing  about  it."  In  the  city  of  Oroomiah  itself  we  have  there 
in  the  church  about  twenty  Mohammedans ;  and  they  are  known  as 
Christians,  as  men  who  have  given  up  Mohammedanism.  Why  are  they 
not  killed  ?  Because  that  law  is  practically  a  dead  letter.  We  had  a 
good  test  in  the  case  of  that  martyred  Mirza,  the  man  who  was  in 
prison  and  suffered  all  sorts  of  torments  for  years,  and  yet  with  the 
knowledge  that  he  was  suffering  the  government  did  not  dare  to  take 
his  life.  He  finally  died  from  the  effects  of  confinement  in  foul  prisons. 
The  government  did  not  dare  to  kill  him.  That  man's  life  did  more  to 
show  the  spirit  and  power  of  the  Christian  religion  than  all  the  converts 
of  the  missionaries  during  the  past  eight  years. 

The  situation  is,  then,  one  that  demands  our  prayers  —  prayer  that 
the  day  may  soon  come  when  the  open  door  shall  be  granted  to  every- 
one to  come  in  there  and  preach ;  but  remembering  that  to-day  they 
are  accessible.  We  may  preach  to  them,  only  it  has  to  be  done  in  a 
quiet  way.     Whenever  the  shots  fall  we  have  to  duck  under  water,  and 


The  World's  Conquest.  309 

we  have  to  remain  there  until  we  can  come  to  the  surface  and  carry  on 
our  work. 

That  is  the  way  we  are  working  there  to-day. 

The    Political   Situation  in  the   Levant  as  Related  to  Mis- 
sion Work. 

The  Rev.  T.  R.  Sampson  said :  — 

In  order  to  deal  with  this  subject  intelligibly,  it  will  be  necessary 
first  to  describe  the  situation.  Then  we  shall  be  in  a  position  to  con- 
sider the  effects  which  that  situation  may  produce,  and  finally'  what 
that  situation  may  demand  in  those  who  undertake  mission  work  where 
it  prevails. 

I.  The  situation  is  different  from  that  found  in  any  other  country 
in  which  mission  work  is  carried  on.  In  Japan  and  China,  for  instance, 
we  find  a  homogeneous  population,  with  a  native  government ;  in  India, 
a  heterogeneous  population  with  an  alien  government,  but  a  govern- 
ment which  is  stable  and  just.  In  the  Levant,  however,  we  find  a 
heterogeneous  population,  a  government  alien  to  many  of  the  national- 
ities within  its  borders,  and  a  government  which,  like  the  Turk,  its 
originator,  is  simply  "  unspeakable "  in  its  injustice,  tyranny,  and  in- 
sincerity. 

The  political  situation  in  the  Levant  is  the  famous  "  Eastern  Ques- 
tion " —  a  question  which  is  not  only  difficult  to  answer,  but  a  situation 
delicate  and  most  difficult  to  define,  so  varied  and  shifting  are  the  ele- 
ments which  enter  into  it,  so  unstable  is  the  controlling  influence,  so 
uncertain  the  continuance  of  any  force  which  may  be  for  the  moment 
supreme. 

One  or  two  illustrations  will  set  forth  the  position  more  clearly  than 
pages  of  description.  The  whole  situation  is  like  a  kaleidoscope,  in 
which  the  paper  cylinder  represents  the  Turkish  government,  the  bits 
of  glass  the  various  nationalities,  and  these  have  to  be  looked  at  through 
the  stained  glass  of  European  diplomacy,  while  the  slightest  jar  of  any 
portion  may  produce  a  new  arrangement  of  all  the  parts. 

The  condition  of  the  Turkish  Empire  more  particularly  is  most  fitly 
represented  as  that  of  a  body  in  unstable  equilibrium,  an  inverted 
pyramid  which  rests  upon  its  apex.  But  even  the  attenuated  base  is 
still  being  vigorously  diminished,  by  the  combined  efforts  of  pygmy 
enemies,  the  "  infant  liberties,"  as  Mr.  Gladstone  terms  the  Greek,  Ser- 
vian, Bulgarian,  and  Roumanian  governments,  and  of  its  own  corrupt 
dan  venal  officials.  Its  fall  would  be  inevitable,  imminent,  and  fatal,  but 
for  the  giants  or  great  powers  of  Europe,  England,  Russia,  France,  and 
Austria,  which,  standing  behind  the  pygmies,  each  steady  the  unstable 


310  The  World's  Conquest. 

body,  by  piUling  it  vigorously  from  opposite  sides,  each  having  his  own 
commercial,  political  or  religious  interests  to  conserve  ;  for  religion  and 
politics  are  inseparable  in  all  the  East. 

The  brevity  of  this  tenure  of  life  is  expressed  by  the  familiar  term 
"  sick  man,"  whose  life  is  only  sustained  or  prolonged  by  stimulants,  or 
electric  shocks,  administered  by  his  doctors,  all  exi^ectant  legatees,  until 
each  in  turn  may  have  an  opportunity  to  add  a  codicil  to  his  will  or 
clip  a  few  coupons  from  his  bonds. 

II.     The  effects  produced  by  this  situation  may  be  said  to  afford : 

(1)  Peculiar  advantages  for  mission  work  among  the  decaj^ed 
Christian  churches.  The  Moslem,  at  first  only  contemptuous  of  all 
religions  but  his  own,  has  been  tolerant  towards  other  creeds  from  ne- 
cessity, since  the  taking  of  Constantinople  and  the  concessions  then 
made.  After  1854  he  was  forced  to  grant  a  measure  of  religious 
liberty  theoretically  even  to  his  co-religionists,  which  has  remained 
almost  a  dead  letter. 

However  diverse  or  opposed  the  interests  of  the  many  claimants, 
they  are  each  and  all  zealous  defenders  of  the  rights  and  privileges  as 
a  whole,  once  granted,  and  will  not  permit  the  rights  of  ah  enemy  even 
to  suffer  lest  his'  own  turn  should  come  next.  Thus  greater  libei'ty  is 
enjoyed  in  Turkey  than  in  any  other  country  of  Eastern  Europe. 

(2)  Special  difficulties.  This  state  of  political  unrest,  however,  is 
necessarily  unfavorable  to  the  careful  consideration  of  other  or  relig- 
ious questions.  The  minds  and  hearts  of  the  people  are  turned  con- 
stantly towards  the  political  horizon,  watching  the  reappearance  of  the 
borealis,  or  some  new  turn  of  the  kaleidoscope. 

Then,  in  the  absence  of  proper  national  institutions,  around  which 
their  aspirations  may  cluster,  patriotism,  as  we  understand  it,  is  almost 
impossible,  and  there  are  many  who  argue  most  plausibly,  "  We  have 
but  two  bonds  which  hold  us  together,  a  common  language  and  a  com- 
mon tongue ;  let  us  not  sever  either  of  these  until  we  have  a  common 
government  or  have  attained  our  national  ahn." 

The  Turk  is  thus  abundantly  supplied  with  advisors  who  are  ready 
to  help  him  do  anything  which  will  injure  a  rival,  without  sacrificing 
some  common  interest. 

This  has  been  the  source  of  no  end  of  trouble  in  building  churches, 
sustaining  schools,  circulating  religious  literature,  as  well  as  of  personal 
persecution . 

These  evils  have  been  intensely  aggravated  during  the  last  few 
years  at  the  instigation  of  Russia. 

The  Turk  himself,  at  first  only  contemptuous,  has,  as  the  Christian 
commimities  have  advanced  in  intelligence,  power,  and  wealth,  become 
suspicious  and  even  not  a  little  fearful. 


The  World's  Conquest.  311 

III.  Turning  our  attention  now  briefly  to  the  needs  of  this  situa- 
tion we  Avill  ask : 

(1)  What  does  it  demand?  There  is  no  special  call  now  for  an 
increase  in  the  mission  force  or  the  mission  funds;  but  there  is  an 
imperative  demand  that  the  present  force  be  maintained  and  recruited 
when  necessary,  by  only  the  ablest,  Avisest,  most  prudent  men  who  can 
be  found;  men  who,  while  possessing  all  the  spiritual  qualification,  will 
be  able  to  direct,  lead,  and  inspire  others,  and  Anth  great  tact  and  dis- 
cretion, avoid  the  traps  which  are  constantly  set  for  them ;  men  of  that 
combination  of  piety  and  common  sense  which  has  so  distinguished 
the  whole  course  of  our  American  missions  in  that  portion  of  the 
world. 

Whom  does  it  demand  ?  Pre-eminently  Americans,  as  missionaries, 
leaders,  teachers,  organizers,  and  trainers ;  while  the  natives  of  the 
various  nationalities  -sWll  be  the  most  effective  evangelists  and  pastors, 
and  to  them  the  whole  work  will  ultimately  be  transferred,  so  soon  and 
so  rapidly  as  they  develop  ability  to  govern  and  support  themselves. 
No  other  nation  is  at  liberty  to  send  missionaries  tOAVork  as  Americans 
can.  The  political  interest  of  each  European  nation,  as  Avell  as  the 
relation  of  church  and  state,  would  immediate!}'  produce  complica- 
tions. This  is  universally  recognized,  and  the  existence  of  the  Turkish 
Mission  Aid  Society  in  London,  to  help  this  American  Avork,  is  a  most 
impressive  confession  of  the  weakness. 

Syria  and  Egypt  are  only  apparent  exceptions  to  this  rule  —  enjoy- 
ing especial  protection. 

(3)  When  should  this  necessary  work  be  done  ?  Xoav.  It  is  im- 
l^ossible  to  say  what  condition  AAall  succeed  the  present.  But  whatever 
the  difficulties  now,  they  Avill  certainly  be  increased  in  the  future,  should 
either  Russia  or  Austria  succeed  Turkey  in  any  portion  of  the  terri- 
tory. 

The  conduct  of  both  Greece  and  SerA'ia  towards  mission  Avork 
leads  us  to  expect  little  grace  from  them,  and  if  Bulgaria  has  been  less 
jealous  and  hostile,  it  is  to  be  attributed,  no  doubt,  to  the  fact  that  the 
mission  work  was  so  firmly  established  already,  in  schools  and  churches, 
within  her  borders,  before  she  attained  any  measure  of  her  independ- 
ence. It  should  be  added  also  that  it  was  largely  through  the  training 
receiA'ed  in  Robert  College  that  her  statesmen  have  been  able  to  learn 
that  political  wisdom  that  has  secured  for  her  the  recognition  and  sup- 
port of  Europe,  which  she  has  demanded,  and  in  so  high  a  degree 
deserved. 

The  honor  was  reserA^ed  for  the  archaeologists  of  the  American 
School  of  Classical  Studies,  at  Athens,  in  its  excavations,  to  restore  to 
the  Avorld  some  months  ago  the  mutilated  form  of  Juno,  the  bride  of 
Jupiter.     The  far  greater  honor  has  been  reserA^ed  to  the  American 


312  The  World's  Conquest. 

missionaries,  esj^eciallj  of  the  American  and  Presbyterian  Boards,  of 
setting  up  again  in  the  Levant  the  long  prostrate  form  of  the  Bride  of 
Heaven,  the  Church  of  Christ,  removing  the  accumulated  debris  of 
ages  of  ignorance  and  superstition,  and  re-uniting  her  mutilated  and 
scattered  members. 

May  they  be  abundantly  sustained  in  this  noble  effort,  until  she 
shall  go  forth  in  all  her  matchless  perfection,  clear  as  the  sun,  fair  as 
the  moon,  and  terrible  as  an  army  with  banners,  conquering  and  to 
conquer. 

Miss  Ben  O'Liel  said  :  — 

It  truly  grieves  me  to  think  of  my  people  —  God's  nation,  the  peo- 
ple that  He  has  chosen  to  call  His  everlasting  nation.  Everyrv^here  is 
the  city  of  Jerusalem  known  as  the  great  city,  from  which  the  blessed 
religion  came.  And  we  cannot  think  of  the  land  without  thinking  of 
the  people, —  the  land  and  the  j^eople  become  inseparable.  And  it  is 
God's  land,  for  has  He  not  appointed  the  land  and  the  people  as  proofs 
of  the  insjDiration  of  the  Scriptures?  We  rejoice  that  we  can  point  to 
the  fulfillment  of  God's  assurance,  and  that  we  see  some  signs  of  the 
api^roach  of  God's  time  to  favor  Zion. 

In  the  Old  Testament  we  read,  repeatedly,  that  God  has  appointed 
His  people ;  and  His  word  has  always  been  vfiy  covenant.  It  was  not 
Christ  who  turned  away  from  His  people,  though  He  came  unto  His 
people  and  His  own  received  Him  not.  We  want  to  remember  that  it 
was  the  Jews  who  were  the  first  missionaries  of  the  Christian  Church. 
But  it  seems  to-day  as  if  the  Church  had  neglected  the  House  of 
Israel.  In  the  days  of  the  apostles  we  had  a  doubt  left  in  our  minds ; 
we  understand  it  to  mean  exactly  what  it  said  —  that  when  Christ 
said  "  beginning  at  Jerusalem  "  He  meant  beginning  with  the  Jews,  and 
that  in  fulfillment  of  that  He  would  come  always  to  the  Jews  first ; 
but,  as  the  Church  grew  in  attention  to  the  world,  it  forgot  its  duty  to 
the  Jews.  Now,  as  God's  Spirit  is  seeking  movements  to  convert  all 
nations  to  the  Christian  Churches,  we  find  that  they  have  passed  by 
Jerusalem,  and  the  thought  gives  me  no  rest.  God  has  never  set  us 
praying  for  anything  He  would  not  grant,  and  we  have  His  word  that 
Jerusalem  will  be  lifted  up.  Has  He  cast  away  His  people  ?  God 
forbid.  We  are  thinking  a  great  deal  of  the  evangelization  of  the 
world,  and  praying  for  it.  Shall  we  ask  a  sign  when  He  has  already 
told  us  whom  He  has  promised  to  redeem  to  Himself? 

The  Jews  are  now  under  God's  ban  of  disgrace, —  scattered  over 
the  world,  ill-treated  by  manj^  nations.  It  may  be  that  they  are  suffer- 
ing because  of  their  sins,  —  and  so  many  in  ignorance  of  what  their 
crowning  sin  was.  But  there  is  another  aspect  to  the  aj^parentl}^  hoj^e- 
less  condition  of  the  Jews.     It  is  possible  that  it  is  God's  training  school 


The  World's  Conquest.  313 

for  them.  He  has  a  mighty  work  for  them  in  the  future,  and  He  is 
now  training  them,  possibly  just  before  He  needs  them,  and  placing 
them  all  over  the  world  to  become  the  most  efficient  missionaries. 

Never  before  was  the  door  so  wide  open  to  the  Jews  as  it  is  now. 
My  father  wTites  from  Jerusalem  that  he  has  never  before  found  the 
Jews  so  willing  to  hear  the  message  of  salvation.  It  is  simply  now  a 
question  of  need  of  those  who  can  give  the  personal  message  to  them ; 
for  thej'  listen  eagerly  to  it.  We  need,  in  going  to  the  Jews,  to  place 
ourselves  in  their  place ;  to  look  at  matters  through  their  eyes,  as  it 
were ;  we  need  to  speak  to  them  from  their  own  Scriptures,  the  Scrip- 
tures they  love. 

The  Chairman  said  :  — 

There  is  one  field  in  the  Levant  which  has  not  been  referred  to. 
It  is  the  field  of  Arabia,  with  a  population  estimated  to  be  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  ten  millions,  and  yet  it  is  at  present  almost  untouched. 

Mackaj^  of  Uganda  says  that  Arabia  is  the  true  key  to  Africa,  and 
Pruen,  another  missionary,  insists  that  if  the  Arab  only  could  be 
reached,  the  evangelization  of  the  dark  continent  would  be  practically 
solved. 

Keith-Falconer,  who  died  at  Aden,  was  emphatic  in  his  statements 
that  the  Arabs  could  be  approached,  and  similar  reports  come  from  the 
mission  which  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  has  established  at  Busrah. 
They  say  that  there  are  manj^  places  that  ought  to  be  occujjied,  one  of 
the  most  important  being  Sanaa,  the  capital  of  Yemen. 

If  there  are  some  of  us  who  are  thinking  where  we  can  lay  down 
our  lives  to  the  most  advantage,  we  may  be  very  sure  that  our  efforts 
in  Arabia  are  greatly  needed,  that  God  will  be  willing  to  bless  them, 
and  that  we  shall  possibly  be  jslacing  them  where  they  will  count  for 
most  from  a  strategic  standpoint. 

Questions. 
A  gentleman  in  the  Audience  said :  — 

I  would  like  to  ask  as  to  the  religious  life  of  the  Armenians.  I 
would  like  to  know  their  spiritual  condition, —  if  they  have  the  religion 
of  Christ,  in  the  active  sense  known  in  this  country,  or  is  it  simply  the 
nominal  Christianity  of  the  other  nations  in  the  East  ? 

Mr.  Coan  said  :  — 

I  suppose  they  would  be  classified  with  the  Nestorians.  They  had 
portions  of  the  Scripture,  and  they  were  kept  in  the  chm-ches,  the  same 
as  relics,  though  not  for  their  intrinsic  value. 


314  The  World's  Conquest. 

An  Armenian  gentleman  in  the  Audience  said  :  — 

The  Armenians  are  under  the  Greek  Church  in  the  East.  As  to 
evangelical  work  among  the  Armenians,  the  Armenians  thought  the 
missionaries  came  to  destroy  their  nationality,  and  they  worked  against 
them.  A  good  many  missionaries  go  to  the  Armenian  churches  to 
preach  the  Gospel,  because  they  are  invited  by  the  Armenian  j^riests. 
The  Armenian  Church  had  a  fast  twice  a  week ;  now  that  fast  is  given 
up.  The  Armenian  Church  had  the  pictures  of  the  saints  in  the 
churches ;  but  now  these  pictures  are  also  taken  out.  Where  the  mis- 
sionary has  been,  this  work  is  going  on,  very  slowly,  but  steadily,  and 
firmly.  They  do  not  want  to  take  the  Protestant  name  unto  them- 
selves;  therefore  they  are  trying  to  reform  their  churches.  That  is 
the  greatest  and  most  hopeful  reformation  that  is  going  on  among  the 
Armenians  to-day. 

A  gentleman  in  the  Audience  said :  — 

In  Syria  and  Palestine  which  is  most  eifective,  education  or 
medicine  ? 

Dr.  Dennis  said :  — 

I  think  that  educational  work  is  in  advance  in  Syria,  and  I  should 
think  throughout  Palestine.  The  schools  for  girls  in  Syria,  and  at 
various  points  throughout  the  Levant,  are  very  interesting  missionary 
efforts,  and  very  successful.  There  are  a  great  many  of  them,  and 
they  are  well  conducted, —  conducted  with  great  earnestness,  and  vrith. 
great  missionary  spirit  and  devotion.  And  I  think  there  are  more  of 
the  hearts  of  the  women  touched  in  the  Orient  by  educational  than  by 
medical  work  at  present. 


THE  CONFERENCE  OF  INSTRUCTORS  IN  COL- 
LEGES, THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARIES, 
AND  FITTING  SCHOOLS. 

Friday,  March  2,  1894. 

Professor  Frank  K.  Sanders,  of  Yale  University,  Chaii-man. 

A  special  conference  was  held  on  Friday  afternoon  of  those  college 
or  seminary  professors  and  other  instructors  who  had  come  together  at 
the  Convention.  The  discussion  included  so  much  that  was  valuable 
and  suggestive  to  those  who  were  present  that  it  was  voted  with  great 
heartiness  to  request  a  committee  of  three,  including  the  Chairman, 
to  prepare  a  careful  report  of  the  ^proceedings  for  circulation  among 
teachers  who  were  not  able  to  be  present,  and  to  ai:)pend  thereto  a 
resolution  expressing  the  evident  sentiment  of  the  gathering  in  relation 
to  the  Volunteer  Movement. 

The  Chairman  said  :  — 

The  subject  we  are  to  discuss  to-day  is  of  equal  interest  to  each 
class  of  educational  institutions  represented  here.  The  Student  Move- 
ment has  not  confined  itself  to  the  theological  seminaries  of  the  land : 
it  appeals  to  the  men  and  women  in  our  colleges,  and  even  to  the 
younger  element  in  our  fitting  schools.  It  is  aiming,  not  merely  at 
sending  forth  missionai-ies,  but  at  developing  a  missionary  spirit  among 
those  who  may  in  the  future  become  missionaries. 

We  are  not  here  to  discuss  the  ad\'isability  of  giving  this  Move- 
ment for  missions  a  place  in  the  religious  life  of  the  institutions  we 
represent.  It  is  already  a  fixed  fact,  a  force  to  be  reckoned  with,  an 
aggressive  influence  to  be  recognized.  It  is  for  us  to  make  it  a  factor 
in  the  development  of  a  wisely  directed,  well  rounded,  catholic  spirited 


316  The  World's  Conquest. 

religious  life,  by  piitting'j  ourselves,  who  have  so  many  quiet  opportu- 
nities for  moulding  student  opinion,  into  a  friendly  and  sympathetic 
relation  with  it. 

It  is  not  then  our  question  whether  we  shall  assume  an  attitude  of 
sufferance,  or  of  hostility,  or  of  helpfulness.  We  have  heard  it  as- 
serted that  the  faculty  of  a  college  is  often  the  greatest  hindrance  to 
the  domination  over  that  college  of  a  whole-souled  devotion  to  Chris- 
tian missions.  There  is  too  much  truth  in  this.  There  are  now, 
and  always  will  be,  associates  of  ours  who  cannot  agree  with  us  that 
we  can  afford  to  give  away  our  best  men.  But  all  that  is  quite  imma- 
terial to  our  discussion  here  to-day.  We  are  certainly  convinced  of 
the  value  of  the  missionary  impulse.  We  will  be  glad  to  see  it  lay 
hold  of  our  students  in  a  large  and  comprehensive  way.  We  are  de- 
sirous of  determining  how  we  may  be  helpful  to  the  Volunteer  Move- 
ment, which  has,  as  its  supreme  object,  the  promotion  of  an  impulse 
toward  this  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  and  consecration. 

Our  discussion  will  follow  three  general  lines,  each  to  be  opened 
by  one  who  is  interested  in  that  especial  phase  of  influence.  Oppor- 
tunity will  then  be  given  for  a  free  and  informal  interchange  of  ideas. 
The  omission  of  formal  addi-esses  will  enable  us  to  gain  in  spontaneity 
and  directness  what  we  may  lose  in  depth  or  breadth  of  discussion. 
We  will  consider,  then,  first,  our  wise  relation  to  the  individual  student 
volunteers  in  our  institutions  ;  secondly,  our  relation  to  the  maintenance 
of  a  true  missionary  spirit  in  our  institutions  as  wholes ;  and,  thirdly, 
our  possible  relation  to  the  wise  and  stable  development  of  the  Volun- 
teer Movement  itself. 

Our  Relation  to  the   Individual  Volunteer. 

Professor  C.  Armand  Miller,  of  Roanoke  College,  Virginia,  said :  — 

The  key  to  this  problem  lies  in  the  cultivation  of  personal  relations 
with  our  students.  In  this  respect  the  members  of  the  faculty  in 
smaller  colleges  have  a  great  advantage  ;  but  whether  in  seminary  or 
college,  the  professor  who  neglects  to  cultivate,  as  far  as  possible,  a 
relation  of  confidence  and  friendliness  with  his  students,  is  cutting  off 
his  most  practical  means  of  guiding  their  lives,  —  a  means  far  more 
potent  than  his  lectures. 

One  who  is  thus  in  jjersonal  contact  with  his  students  can  do  four 
things  for  those  of  their  number  who  are  pledged  to  give  then-  lives  to 
missionaiy  service :  (1)  He  can  confirm  them  in  their  chosen  career 
by  expressing  a  hearty  sympathy  with  it.  (2)  He  can  give  perma- 
nence and  steadiness  to  their  purpose  by  helping  them  to  avoid  eccen- 
tricities or  one-sidedness,  and  by  helping  them  to  maintain  a  lofty  con- 
ception of  what  that  purpose  means.     (3)  He  can  give  a  wise  stimulus 


The  World's  Conquest.  317 

to  their  zeal,  interest,  and  earnestness  by  guiding  their  private  studies 
on  missions  along  suggestive  lines,  and  by  showing  the  need  for  the 
noblest  types  of  character  on  the  field.  (4)  He  can  suggest  ways  by 
which  they  can  make  their  influence  felt  more  fully  among  their  fellow 
students.  The  Volunteer  Band  is  often  tempted  to  make  a  little  circle 
of  its  own,  to  keep  apart  from  the  rest ;  this  can  be  avoided. 

The  discussion  that  followed  was  suggestive  and  general.  One 
speaker  emphasized  the  possibilities  of  a  faculty's  influence  by  relating 
an  experience  of  his  own.  He  had  once  been  led  by  a  combination  of 
natural  circumstances  to  become  the  leader  and  adviser  of  a  Band  of 
ten  earnest  students,  who  proposed  to  offer  themselves  in  a  body  for 
foreign  mission  work.  One  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  college  joined  this 
Band,  and  at  once  helped  to  give  it  character,  reputation,  and  standing 
in  the  college  community.  In  the  minds  of  many  of  the  faculty,  how- 
ever, he  was  "  too  bright  a  man  "  to  be  a  missionary ;  he  was  "  needed 
by  his  college ; "  and  so  he  was  influenced  after  a  while  to  alter  his  pur- 
pose, and  accept  a  college  appointment,  thereby  greatly  injm-ing  the 
cause  of  missions  among  the  students,  and  unquestionably  making  a 
more  limited  use  of  his  influence  and  of  his  intellect  than  would  have 
been  the  case  had  he  gone  abroad.  He  was  not  indispensable  at  home  ; 
there  were  and  are  others  fully  competent  to  follow  him.  He  might 
have  been  a  missionary  hero  on  the  foreign  field,  and  thus  have  helped 
his  college  more  than  he  did  by  staying  here. 

Another  speaker  regretted  that  the  conference  was  the  smallest  one 
in  the  Convention.  He  felt  that  it  was  too  true  that  professors  were 
indifferent  to  its  opportunities,  but  ascribed  this  indifference  in  the 
main  to  their  lack  of  information  and  their  failure  to  realize  the  solid 
character  and  real  importance  of  the  Student  Movement. 

Various  other  suggestions  followed,  of  which  the  following  is  a 
summary :  — 

A  sympathetic  professor  can  be  of  great  service  to  volunteers  by 
helping  men  who  are  obviously  unfitted  for  missionary  service  to  real- 
ize that  fact,  and  by  turning  their  faces  toward  a  more  befitting  field 
of  labor.  Such  an  instructor  can  also  assist  these  men  to  specialize. 
No  one  knows  as  well  as  he  their  especial  capabilities,  which  may 
point  out  for  them  a  particular  country  to  which  to  go,  or  a  certain 
definite  line  of  missionary  endeavor  to  emphasize.  He  can  advise  one 
man  to  train  his  linguistic  powders  to  their  utmost,  another  to  perfect 
himself  as  an  expert  on  industrial  training,  another  to  prepare  as  a 
medical  missionary,  etc.  He  can  encourage  them  greatly  by  attending 
occasionally  theii-  meetings,  and  by  inviting  them  to  his  home  to  talk 
over  matters  of  difliculty. 


318  The  World's  Conquest. 

The  Chairman,  in  closing,  stated  that  it  was  the  definite  purpose  of 
the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Movement  to  secure  an  "advisory 
member "  of  the  Vohmteer  Band  from  the  faculty  in  each  college  of 
the  land.  This  adviser  would  need  to  be  one  in  entire  sympathy  with 
the  Band,  in  ready  touch  -with  its  members,  fairly  intelligent  in  his 
views  of  the  causes,  conditions,  and  methods  of  missions,  willing  to 
give  some  time  and  energy  to  making  himself  eventually  a  specialist 
on  the  subject.  To  have  such  a  man  in  close  touch  with  these  students 
would  be  an  advantage  to  any  faculty. 

Professor  H.  W.  Hulbert,  of  Marietta  College,  Ohio,  introduced 
the  second  phase  of  discussion  : 

Our    Relation    to    the    Maintenance    or    a    True    Missionary 
Spirit  in  our  Institutions. 


Admitting  as  a  fact  that  many  teachers,  even  including  myself,  have 
stood  aloof  from  the  Movement  in  the  past,  there  is  a  wide  difference 
between  the  Movement  now  and  then.  We  do  much  to  promote  the 
development  of  a  missionary  spirit  by  testifying  to  our  colleagues  that 
the  organization  is  now  reasonably  conservative  in  methods  and  aims, 
and  worthy  of  recognition  and  support  by  all  interested  in  educational 
work.  There  are  five  more  direct  means  of  influence  within  the  reach 
of  a  professor  who  believes  in  missions  and  in  the  Movement.  He  can 
exert  his  influence  on  the  Volunteer  Band  itself  to  prevent  its  becom- 
ing a  religious  clique  and  using  unwise  methods  of  missionary  influence. 
He  can  show  enough  active  sympathy  with  the  Band  and  its  work  to 
dignify  its  purpose  in  the  eyes  of  the  student  body  and  prevent  its  claims 
from  being  ignored.  He  can  practically  aid  in  securing  library  space  for 
a  missionary  alcove,  and  some  aid  on  the  part  of  college  authorities  in 
filling  it.  He  has  a  vast  opportunity,  when  students  come  to  him  for 
counsel  concerning  studies  of  everyday  life  or  their  future  career,  to 
set  forth  in  a  large  way  the  relative  needs  of  the  world,  and  to  impress 
men  with  a  sense  of  the  important  place  occupied  by  missions  in  its 
historical  development.  He  can  prepare  and  offer  short  courses,  not 
merely  in  his  college,  but  in  the  adjacent  communities,  which  will  be 
impressive  in  showing  the  place  of  Christian  missions  in  civilization, 
thus  arousing  an  abiding  interest. 

Professor  Hulbert  was  followed  by  many  speakers,  some  represent- 
ing theological  seminaries,  others  representing  colleges.  The  seminary 
representatives  gave  strong  testimony  to  the  valuable  results  of  elective 
courses  on  the  history  of  missions  and  of  a  constant  nurturing  of  the 


The  World's  Conquest.  319 

missionary  spirit  by  devoting  at  least  one  day  in  the  month  to  the  con- 
sideration of  missions,  faculty  and  students  co-o])erating  together. 
Those  who  spoke  for  the  colleges  denied  that  it  could  he  faii'ly  urged 
that  faculties  were  hostile  to  the  Volunteer  Movement :  they  were 
merely  ignorant  of  it  as  a  rule,  and  needed  thorough  information. 
Moreover,  they  would  not  look  at  the  foreign  mission  work  quite  from  the 
Movement's  standpoint.  It  stands  for  foreign  missions  or  for  missions 
alone  ;  the  adviser  of  a  miscellaneous  group  of  young  men  must  be 
interested  in  every  phase  of  useful  work  for  the  world.  The  chapel 
exercises,  in  a  college  where  members  of  the  faculty  conduct  them  in 
rotation,  or  the  weekly  lectures  given  by  members  of  the  faculty  in 
many  colleges,  afford  the  best  chances  in  the  world  for  an  unobtrusive 
emphasis  on  missions  and  a  cultivation  of  a  true  missionary  spirit. 

The  Chairman,  in  closing,  suggested  that  the  establishment  of  chairs 
of  Biblical  Literature  in  our  colleges  would  help  to  solve  this  particular 
problem,  along  with  many  others.  It  would  secure  a  man  previously 
in  warm  sympathy  \nth  the  organized  development  of  Christianity,  ac- 
quainted with  the  Bible  itself,  with  church  history,  and  with  modern 
missions,  whose  influence,  both  special  and  general,  would  count  strongly 
in  the  direction  of  the  develoi:)ment  and  maintenance  of  a  broad  and 
deep  religious  spirit,  which  could  not  fail  to  become  at  the  same  time  a 
missionary  spirit. 

Mr.  E.  L.  Hunt,  recently  a  professor  in  the  University  of  Toronto, 
opened  the  third  topic :  — 

OuE   Relation  to  the   Wise   Development  of  the   Volunteer 

Movement. 

Any  professor  can  obtain  an  influence  over  students  by  showing  an 
interest  in  then-  plans,  by  conferring  with  them,  and  by  occasionally 
attending  theii'  meetings.  There  is  an  added  influence  which  a  special- 
ist exerts ;  and  I  would  urge  that  every  professor  interested  in  missions 
make  himself  an  authority  along  some  missionary  line,  either  in  bibli- 
ography, or  in  biography,  or  in  the  history  of  missions.  Such  attain- 
ment would  enable  him  to  influence  not  merely  the  college  world,  but  the 
outside  world  too.  It  would  make  him  rarely  useful  to  the  Volunteer 
Movement,  both  within  the  colleges  of  his  State,  where  he  could  help 
to  foster  the  spirit  of  missionary  consecration,  and  in  communities  where 
funds  could  be  obtained  for  the  equipment  and  support  of  the  volun- 
teers secured.  One  hundred  such  specialists,  willing  to  respond  to 
a  reasonable  extent  to  invitations  throughout  then*  respective  States, 
would  render  a  service  of  incalculable  value.     Uj^on  the  graduated 


320  The  World's  Conquest. 

men,  too,  in  business  and  professional  life,  who  must  be  the  mainstays 
of  any  efficient  development  of  the  Volunteer  Movement,  the  opinions 
of  college  professors  and  their  attitude  have  great  weight. 

In  the  ensuing  discussions  the  siiggestive  remark  was  made  that  the 
Movement  needed  the  wisdom,  experience,  and  mature  judgment  em- 
bodied in  the  teachers  of  the  land.  Enthusiasm  guided  by  wisdom  is 
an  irresistible  combination.  The  officers  of  the  Movement  are  not 
only  amenable  to  kindly  advice ;  they  heartily  welcome  it  and  wish 
for  it.  It  was  also  suggested  that  the  principal  reason  for  the  failure 
—  if  there  had  been  a  failure  —  to  heartily  unite  educators  and  stu- 
dents in  this  matter  heretofore,  was  misinformation,  and  hence  misap- 
prehension. 

In  closing,  it  was  suggested  that  too  much  emphasis  could  not  be 
laid  on  the  potency  of  the  influence  which  instructors  may  exert  on 
recent  graduates,  who  are  the  greatest  helpers  or  hinderers  among 
people  at  large,  of  the  work  of  the  Movement.  One  practical  w^ay  of 
utilizing  this  influence  was  to  take  the  first  opportunity  of  contributing 
to  the  appropriate  journal  a  candid  estimate  of  the  Movement. 

The  Conference  was  obliged  to  adjourn  without  further  discussion, 
but  unanimously  appointed  a  committee  of  three  to  prepare  resolutions 
which  should  express  the  evident  sentiments  of  those  present.  The 
resolutions  are  as  follows  :  — 

Be  it  resolved^  as  the  sense  of  this  gathering  of  instructors  from 
universities,  colleges,  theological  schools,  and  fitting  schools,  in  the 
United  States  and  Canada  — 

(1)  That  the  International  Student  Volunteer  Movement,  as  we 
have  had  opportunity  to  study  it  at  this  Detroit  meeting,  approves 
itself  to  our  judgment  as  of  the  highest  value  to  the  cause  of  Christ 
everywhere,  and  especially  in  our  institutions  of  learning ; 

(2)  That  its  conservative  methods,  now  set  forth  in  the  official 
documents  of  the  organization,  and  clearly  emphasized  by  its  lead- 
ers, should  dispel  the  many  misrepresentations  widely  credited  among 
college  instructors ; 

(3)  That  we  heartily  urge  upon  the  attention  of  instructors  the 
privilege  of  fostering  the  missionary  spirit  among  their  students  in 
such  a  broad  yet  distinct  way  that  it  shall  give  dignity  to  this  work 
which  lies  near  the  heart  of  a  Christian  nation  ; 

(4)  That  we  recognize  the  advantage  of  a  more  definite  relation 
between  the  faculties  of  our  institutions  and  this  Movement,  both  lo- 
cally and  as  an  international  organization,  and  express  our  approval  of 
the  proposal  to  secure  an  advisory  member  of  the  Volunteer  Band,  and 
hence  of  the  Movement,  in  the  faculty  of  each  institution ; 


The  World's  Conquest.  321 

(5)  That  we  invite  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Vohinteer 
Movement  to  initiate  such  action  as  shall  seem  suitable,  looking  toward 
the  closer  co-operation  of  those  whom  we  represent  with  the  work 
committed  to  its  charge,  assuring  it  of  our  sympathy,  our  readiness  to 
co-operate,  and  of  our  desire  to  be  made  acquainted  wath  a  feasible 
method  of  keeping  ourselves  and  our  students  in  closest  touch  with 
the  Movement  itself,  and  with  the  broad  work  which  it  represents. 

F.  K.  Sanders, 

Yale  University. 

H.    W.    HULBERT, 

Marietta  College. 
Edwin  C.  Dargan, 

Southern  Baptist  Theological  Seminary. 


CONFERENCE  ON  THE  EVANGELIZATION  OF 

THE  JEWS. 

Saturday  Afternoon,  March  3,  1894. 
Mr.  Wra.  E.  Blackstone,  Chairman. 
The  Chairman  said  :  — 

It  is  certainly  very  delightful  to  see  so  many  interested  in  this  subject. 
I  am  sure  it  must  be  the  Spu-it  of  God  that  is  inclining  your  hearts  to 
think  of  the  people  who  in  the  prayer  already  offered  have  been  de- 
scribed to  us  as  especially  the  people  of  God.  Now,  just  let  us  get  the 
thought  before  us  that  it  is  for  the  Jew  and  about  the  Jew  that  we  are 
to  confer  this  afternoon.  I  am  sorry  that  in  the  Christian  Church  for 
years  the  Jew  has  been  forgotten  and  lost  and  has  had  no  place  in  our 
plans  or  in  our  thoughts.  "  Oh,"  said  a  man  to-day,  "  there  ai'e  only 
seven  millions  of  Jews  anyway.  You  were  at  work  the  other  day 
for  seven  hundred  millions."  Yet  that  little  handful  of  Jews  repre- 
sents those  who  were  chosen  to  be  the  conservators  of  the  Word  of 
God  for  us  poor  Gentiles.  You  and  I  are  picking  up  the  crumbs  from 
the  table.  And  I  am  so  glad  that  God  is  opening  our  eyes  to  the 
paramount  duty  of  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  Jews.  Does  not  God 
say,  "  To  the  Jew  first  ?  "  I  thank  God  that  He  has  turned  your  hearts 
to  come  in  such  numbers.  I  ask  you  to  get  into  s^^mpathy  with  those 
that  shall  speak  to  you  and  with  these  ancient  people  of  God.  There  is 
nothing  to  me  so  pathetic  as  all  these  centuries  of  persecution  and 
wandering.  An  old  rabbi  said  to  me  one  day  in  Chicago,  "  It  is  hard 
for  me  to  think  of  the  persecution  and  sorrow  we  have  been  through," 
It  seemed  as  though  the  old  man's  heart  was  coming  almost  to  the 
point  of  believing  that  there  is  no  God.  I  said  to  him  :  "  I  see  a 
reason.  Does  not  the  sixtj^-seventh  Psalm  say  it  is  in  order  that  the 
heathen  may  know  God  ? "  Said  I :  "  After  Israel  was  mercifully 
restored   from   Babylon    they  shut  themselves   up   for   five   centuries 


The  World's  Conquest.  323 

with  no  idea  of  giving  the  Word  of  God  to  the  lieathen  around  them, 
and  they  spent  tlieir  energies  in  compiling  tlie  Talmud  to  tell  men  how 
to  wash  their  hands  and  how  to  eat  and  drink.  If  Israel  had  only  had 
the  missionary  spirit  the  Jews  would  have  accepted  Jesus."  I  don't 
know  that  I  have  had  mj'-  heart  more  touched  than  when,  on  a  Passover 
night,  I  sat  with  a  rabbi  in  his  home  when  he  was  keeping  the  feast. 
I  cannot  take  the  time  to  describe  it  to  you.  And  as  I  sat  there  and 
partook  of  it  with  them,  how  my  heart  did  burn  with  the  thought,  these 
are  the  brethren  of  my  Lord,  and  He  has  said,  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have 
done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto 
me."     God  breathe  that  spirit  into  our  hearts  this  afternoon. 

The  Duty  of  the  Church  to  Preach  the  Gospel  to  the  Jews. 

The  Rev.  A.  J.  Gordon,  D.  D.,  said :  — 

I  purpose  to  speak  upon  the  present  condition  of  the  Jews,  but  I 
am  sure  all  that  will  be  said  this  afternoon  will  lead  ujj  to  the  one 
thought  —  our  great  and  ever  present  duty  of  preaching  the  Gospel  to 
God's  ancient  people.  Amos  9,  9 :  "I  will  sift  the  house  of  Israel 
among  all  nations,  like  as  corn  is  sifted  in  a  sieve,  yet  shall  not  the 
least  grain  fall  upon  the  earth."  The  universal  dispersion  of  the  Jews 
among  all  nations,  yet  their  striking  preservation,  has  it  not  been  liter- 
ally so  ?  Is  there  any  nation  where  you  do  not  find  Jews?  Are  they 
not  to-day  speaking  every  language,  dwelling  under  every  sun?  It 
has  been  literally  fulfilled,  this  sifting  among  all  nations.  The  other 
part  has  been  just  as  truly  fulfilled  —  God's  wondrous  preservation  of 
these  people,  in  their  identity.  So  true  is  this  that  it  has  often  been 
spoken  of  as  one  of  the  miracles  of  history. 

In  the  eleventh  verse  of  the  same  chapter  God  says  :  "  In  that  day 
vidll  I  raise  up  the  tabernacle  of  David  that  is  fallen,  and  close  up  the 
breaches  thereof  ;  and  I  will  raise  up  his  ruins,  and  I  will  l)uild  it  as  in 
the  days  of  old ; 

"  That  they  may  possess  the  remnant  of  Edom,  and  of  all  the 
heathen,  which  are  called  by  my  name,  saith  the  Lord  that  doeth  this. 

"And  I  will  bring  again  the  captivity  of  my  people  of  Israel,  and 
they  shall  build  the  waste  cities,  and  inhabit  them ;  and  they  shall 
plant  vineyards,  and  drink  the  wine  thereof ;  and  they  shall  also  make 
gardens,  and  eat  the  fruit  of  them. 

"  And  I  will  plant  them  upon  their  land,  and  they  shall  no  more  be 
pulled  up  out  of  their  land  which  I  have  given  them,  saith  the  Lord 
thy  God." 

Now,  if  the  first  passage,  with  reference  to  their  dispersion,  is  to  be 
taken  literally,  and  history  has  proved  it  to  be  true,  may  we  not  expect 


324  The  World's  Conquest. 

the  last  passage  to  be  fulfilled  just  as  literally  :  "  And  I  will  plant  them 
upon  their  land,  and  they  shall  be  no  more  pulled  up  out  of  their  land 
which  I  have  given  them,  saith  the  Lord  thy  God?"  Two  things  are 
taught  here  and  in  other  parts  of  the  chapter,  namely,  their  restoration 
to  their  land  ;  and  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Romans,  just  as  definitely 
their  conversion,  their  acceptance  of  their  Messiah,  and  the  blessing 
that  is  to  follow.  For  three  hundred  years  those  who  have  studied  the 
prophetic  Scriptures  have  said  that  three  things  would  happen  to- 
gether :  First,  the  universal  dissemination  of  the  Gospel ;  second,  the 
fall  of  the  papacy ;  third,  a  revival  among  God's  ancient  people,  the 
Jews.  This  was  said  by  the  earliest  commentators  since  the  Reforma- 
tion who  began  to  study  the  Apocalypse. 

There  has  been  a  general  agreement  that  the  twelve  hundred  and 
sixty  years  mentioned  in  the  Apocalypse  begins  from  606  to  610 
because  in  these  years  the  Emperor  Phocius  committed  temporal 
power  to  the  Pope  and  more  and  more  strengthened  that  power; 
and,  therefore,  they  have  said  that  when  you  come  to  the  years 
1866  to  1870  you  may  expect  to  see  a  great  change  in  this  system 
that  now  for  many  centuries  has  dominated  Christendom.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  1866  was  a  critical  year.  That  was  the  year  in  which 
the  battle  of  Sadowa  was  fought,  when  Germany  was  defeated  and 
Prussia  became  the  dominating  power  in  Europe,  rising  to  great  posi- 
tion and  authority  and  influence  among  nations.  Then  go  on  to  1870  ; 
that  was  the  year  in  which  the  Infallibility  Decree  was  passed,  and  that 
crown  which  the  Pope  had  so  long  desired  was  placed  upon  his  head, 
and  he  was  declared  to  be,  what  God  alone  is,  infallible.  Within 
twenty-four  hours  after  the  decree  of  infallibility  was  passed,  war  was 
declared  between  France  and  Prussia.  At  the  battle  of  Sedan  France 
was  defeated,  Germany  was  victorious.  That  led  to  the  withdrawal  of 
the  French  from  Rome  and  the  downfall  of  the  temporal  power  of  the 
Pope.  The  London  Times  says  that  it  is  marvellous  that  that  power 
which  has  now  held  sway  for  ten  centuries,  and  the  fall  of  which  would 
have  shocked  all  Europe  a  few  hundred  years  ago,  went  down  with 
hardly  a  note  of  alarm  or  excitement  throughout  the  whole  world.  And 
o-reat  was  the  fall  of  it.  The  yoke  was  lifted  from  Italv ;  and  Rome,  in 
which  there  had  never  been  a  Protestant  church,  and  where  it  was  un- 
lawful to  read  the  Bible,  was  so  changed  that  there  are  now  twenty-five 
Protestant  churches  there ;  and  there  are  Bible  houses  and  evangel- 
ists scattering  the  Bible  all  through  Italy. 

Then  notice  how  France  became,  by  the  overthrow  of  Napoleon, 
while  not  a  Protestant  country,  yet  a  government  that  favors  Prot- 
estantism, so  that  all  French  preachers  say  that  now  is  the  great  era 
for  giving  the  Gospel  to  France.  In  1873  the  Church  was  disestab- 
lished in  Mexico. 


The  World's  Conquest.  325 

Now,  we  should  look  about  this  time  for  some  stir  among  the  peo- 
ple of  Israel.  Is  there  anything  of  the  sort  manifested?  I  want  to 
answer  this  (juestion  this  afternoon.  Yery  few  persons  are  aware  of 
the  fact,  I  presume,  that  in  the  latter  part  of  this  century  there  are 
fifty  missionary  societies  for  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  Jews.  There 
are  three  translations  of  the  New  Testament  into  the  Hebrew  tongue. 
The  first  translation  was  made  by  a  man  who  made  it  in  order  that  he 
might  confute  the  writings  of  Paul ;  and  before  he  finished  translating 
the  book  of  IJomans,  he  himself  was  converted.  Then  comes  the 
translation  of  Silkinson,  and  last,  the  translation  of  Professor  Delitszch' 
both  of  which  are  now  widely  circulated  among  the  Jews.  "What  does 
this  mean?  Are  they  ready  to  read  the  New  Testament?  A  de- 
voted and  eminent  missionary  among  the  Jews  told  me  two  or  three 
years  ago :  "  While  fifteen  years  ago  I  found  the  greatest  difficulty  in 
getting  a  hearing,  to-day  I  can  go  into  a  new  city,  and  put  out  a  pla- 
card in  Hebrew  announcing  that  I  am  to  preach  in  a  certain  hall,  and 
the  place  is  generally  filled."  Then  he  tells  an  interesting  story  of 
going  and  setting  this  great  need  before  his  brethren,  and  their  setting 
apart  days  of  prayer  that  God  would  be  pleased  to  send  money  to 
supply  the  Hebrew  New  Testaments  for  His  ancient  people ;  so  great 
was  the  demand  for  them  that  he  could  not  supply  them.  A  while 
after  they  received  a  check  for  twenty-five  thousand  pounds  from  a 
person  of  whom  they  had  never  heard,  for  the  purpose  of  distributing 
the  Hebrew  New  Testament  among  the  Jews  over  the  earth,  and  that 
need  was  so  fully  supplied  that  recently  Mr.  Silkinson  wrote  to  me  in 
Boston,  and  said,  "  If  you  know  of  any  missions  in  Boston  where  they 
need  New  Testaments,  we  can  supply  them."  Now  this  is  the  fact, 
that  they  are  eager  to  hear  the  Gospel. 

A  third  fact :  they  not  only  read,  but  they  now  gather  to  hear  the 
Gospel.  I  have  been  for  many  years  deeply  interested  in  preaching  the 
Gospel  to  the  Hebrews.  For  fifteen  years  I  tried  to  get  a  hearing  from 
them  in  Boston,  but  I  could  not  get  their  ear ;  I  could  talk  to  them  jjer- 
sonally,  biat  I  could  not  get  them  into  a  congregation.  I  gave  it  up. 
About  three  years  ago  we  were  moved  to  undertake  the  work  again. 
We  opened  a  hall  in  the  Je\\dsh  quarter  and  put  out  a  placard  in 
Hebrew.  It  wasn't  thi-ee  weeks  before  that  hall  was  filled.  The  third 
or  fourth  Sunday  I  went  down  and  preached  to  the  Hebrews  myself. 
The  place  was  filled,  even  the  entrance  and  the  stairway.  I  won't  say 
that  they  were  an  orderly  congregation  ;  that  would  be  saying  too 
much.  I  think  you  would  have  seen  the  scene  repeated  which  you 
have  constant  reference  to  in  the  New  Testament,  "  Disputing  out  of 
the  Scriptures  concerning  the  Messiah."  I  have  had  a  man  rush  up  the 
aisle  with  his  Hebrew  Bible  in  his  hand  and  say,  "  What  do  you  saj- 
about  that,   about  that?"    And  when  I  have  taken  up  the  fifty-third 


326  The  World's  Conquest. 

chapter  of  Isaiah  and  expounded  it  and  told  them,  "  Now,  doesn't  this 
answer  to  what  took  place  in  the  case  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ?  "  I  have 
seen  them  turn  pale  and  cry  out,  such  pain  they  seemed  to  have  about 
that  tremendous  fifty-third  chapter  of  Isaiah :  "  He  is  brought  as  a 
lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  as  a  sheep  before  her  shearers  is  dumb,  so 
He  opened  not  His  mouth."  That  is  the  sore  point  for  the  orthodox 
Hebrew,  to  know  Avhat  to  do  with  that  fifty-third  of  Isaiah.  We  have 
had  in  that  mission  some  blessed  conversions.  And  I  have  had  these 
words  repeatedly  said  to  me  :  "  We  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Messiah, 
and  were  it  not  for  the  consequences  we  woixld  confess  Him."  But  the 
Jew  who  embraces  Jesus  Christ  is  boycotted,  and  turned  out  by  his 
employer.  As  one  man  said  to  me :  "  We  are  like  sheep  without  a 
shepherd,  we  don't  know  what  to  do.  But  I  can  tell  you  truly,  as  I  talk 
among  my  Hebrew  brethren,  a  great  many  of  us  are  believers,  but  we 
don't  dare  yet  to  come  out.  But,"  he  said,  "  if  there  should  some  man 
rise  up  like  Moses,  to  be  a  leader,  the  people  would  follow  him  in  flocks. 
We  want  some  man  of  influence  to  rise  up,  who  can  command  respect." 
A  great  many  of  them  are  praying  for  some  Moses  to  rise  up  to  be 
their  leader. 

That  brings  me  to  the  third  point :  has  God  been  raising  up  such 
men  ?  You  cannot  read  the  history  of  the  last  fifteen  years  without 
seeing  that  God  has  done  just  that  thing.  I  am  asked  to  speak  of  my 
own  knowledge  and  acquaintance  with  one  such  man.  About  ten  years 
ago  there  was  in  Russia  a  man  by  the  name  of  Joseph  Kabbinowntz,  a 
lawyer,  a  man  of  great  learning,  who  claimed  that  he  had  mastered  the 
Hebrew  Bible  so  that  he  could  turn  to  any  passage  and  give  an  expla- 
nation of  it.  And  he  had  mastered  the  Talmud  and  the  other  Jewish 
literature.  Then  he  was  a  philanthropist  known  far  and  wide  as  a 
friend  of  Israel,  and  he  was  a  man  who  had  great  gifts  of  oratory,  so 
that  he  could  speak  with  the  voice  of  thunder.  This  man  was  selected 
by  the  Colonization  Societies,  when  the  persecution  broke  out  in  Russia, 
to  go  to  Palestine  to  buy  land  for  them.  I  have  often  said  to  myself, 
"  If  there  is  anybody  I  would  cross  the  sea  to  have  an  interview  with  it 
is  that  man,"  Last  summer  I  was  at  Chicago ;  I  went  on  to  assist  in 
the  Moody  campaign.  When  I  was  put  into  my  room  one  night  they 
said  there  is  a  Russian  in  the  next  room.  As  the  evening  grew  I 
heard  a  strange  sound  ;  it  was  the  voice  of  chanting.  This  went  on  for 
a  time,  a  low,  solemn,  plaintive  wail.  I  went  out  and  said  to  the  pro- 
prietor, "  Do  you  know  who  this  man  is  ?  "  He  said,  "  He  is  a  Russian." 
He  got  the  register  of  the  hotel,  and  there  I  read  the  name,  "  Joseph 
Rabbinowitz."  I  was  not  very  long  oj^ening  the  folding  door  between 
us.  I  saw  this  old  Hebrew  down  by  a  table,  bent  over  a  Hebrew  Bible, 
chanting  one  of  the  Messianic  Psalms,  I  think  the  twentj'-second,  and 
as  he  read  it  his  whole  soul  seemed  to  be  moved.     I  introduced  mj^self 


The  World's  Conquest.  327 

to  him.  I  said  to  him  the  first  thing,  "  I  see  you  are  chanting  one  of  the 
Psalms.  How  many  of  the  Psalms  do  you  think  are  Messianic?" 
"  Every  one  of  them,"  he  said ;  "  if  you  can  find  a  Psalm  M-here  Jesus 
Christ  is  not  referred  to,  I  would  like  to  see  it."  I  again  and  again 
took  up  a  Psalm  and  gave  it  to  him,  and  I  was  surprised  to  see  how  he 
could  see  Jesus  everywhere.  I  wish  our  scholars  might  hear  him.  I 
think  if  some  of  these  men  would  sit  at  the  feet  of  this  Hebrew  about 
twenty-four  hours,  they  would  be  convinced  trxily  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
in  the  Psalms. 

Well,  now,  I  became  of  course  deeply  interested  in  him,  and  spent 
often  three  or  four  hours  a  day  studying  the  Old  Testament  with  him. 
But  I  want  to  refer  to  the  story  of  his  conversion.  He  was  sent  as  an 
agent  for  the  Colonization  Society,  with  the  understanding  that  any 
money  he  needed  to  buy  land  would  be  furnished.  He  went  to  Jeru- 
salem. One  day,  after  a  hard  day's  work,  when  he  had  become  very 
weary,  he  thought  he  would  go  up  on  the  Mount  of  Olives.  Some- 
body had  told  him,  before  he  went  away,  to  take  a  copy  of  the  Xew 
Testament  as  furnishing  the  best  guide-book  to  the  holy  places  about 
Jerusalem.  He  said :  "  The  only  Christ  that  I  knew  anything  about 
was  the  Christ  that  had  been  preached  in  the  Greek  Church  and  the 
Roman  Cathohc  Church  in  my  own  city,  where  images  and  pictures 
were  worshiped,  and  all  kinds  of  superstitious  ceremonies  were  being 
carried  on.  I  hated  Christ  because  I  supposed  the  bitterest  persecutors 
of  my  people  represented  Chi-ist."  And  he  said,  "  I  never  saw  until 
afterwards  an  evangelical  Christian ;  if  I  had  seen  one  I  should  not 
have  hated  Him  as  I  did."  Well,  at  the  end  of  the  day  he  went  up 
on  the  Mount  of  Olives.  He  sat  there  a  little  while  and  he  looked 
over  toward  the  site  of  Calvary,  and  he  began  to  think,  "  Why  is  it 
that  my  people  now,  after  all  these  centuries,  have  been  cast  off,  re- 
jected, persecuted,  and  have  suffered  every  indignity  ?  "  He  said  :  "  As 
I  began  to  think  about  the  history  of  our  people  since  we  were  driven 
out  of  Jerusalem,  you  don't  wonder  that  my  heart  was  sad.  While  I 
was  pondering  that  question,  my  heart  gave  this  answer:  'It  must 
have  been  because  we  have  put  to  death  our  Messiah.  Jesus  Christ 
must  have  been  our  Messiah,  and  because  we  put  Him  to  death  God 
has  been  visiting  His  judgments  upon  us.'  I  lifted  up  my  eyes  to  that 
Messiah  and  I  said,  '  My  Lord  and  my  God.'  I  went  up  to  the  Mount 
a  hater  of  Jesus  Christ :  I  came  down  a  discijile  of  Jesus  Christ.  Im- 
mediately after  my  eyes  were  unveiled,  I  opened  the  Xew  Testament. 
The  first  passage  that  fell  under  my  eye  was  this :  '  I  am  the  vine,  ye 
are  the  branches ;  he  that  abideth  in  me  and  I  in  him  the  same  bring- 
eth  forth  much  fruit :  for  without  me  ye  can  do  nothing.'  That  was 
God's  voice  to  me.  Yes,  that  is  so.  Our  Jewish  bankers  have  mill- 
ions of  capital  to  help  our  nation,  but  they  can't  do  anything  for  us. 


328  The  World's  Conquest. 

Our  Jewish  editors  have  control  of  a  large  jmrt  of  the  press  of  Europe, 
hut  they  can't  help  us.  Our  Jewish  philanthropists  have  their  millions 
to  distribute,  and  we  have  colonization  societies  all  over  the  world. 
But  there  is  only  one  that  can  deliver  us,  and  that  is  Jesus,  whom  we 
put  to  death.  That  was  my  conviction,  and  I  went  back  to  Russia  to 
announce  that  I  too  was  a  believer  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Of  course 
I  was  persecuted.  First  of  all  I  was  said  to  have  gone  crazy.  But  I 
had  the  grace  to  stand  fast."  He  told  me  of  the  bitter  sufferings  he 
had  from  his  own  family.  "But,"  he  said,  "I  stood  fast,  and  now 
after  nearly  ten  years  I  have  to  tell  you,  my  brother,  that  my  dear 
wife  and  my  sons  and  daughters  have  all  joined  me  in  the  faith,  and 
we  are  united  in  the  worshijD  of  Jesus  Christ." 

He  went  home  to  Russia.  He  went  up  to  St.  Petersburg  and  got 
permission  of  the  government  to  erect  a  synagogue  for  the  Jews, 
You  hear  about  the  persecution  of  dissenters  in  Russia.  The}^  told 
him,  "  You  may  do  what  you  please  with  the  Jews,  but  don't  you 
touch  any  of  our  Russians."  The  Stundists  are  persecuted  because  of 
proselytizing  the  members  of  the  Greek  Church.  "  But,"  he  said,  "  I 
had  ample  permission  to  preach  to  the  Jews."  There  he  is,  jDreaching 
in  that  synagogue,  over  the  door  of  which  is  written,  "  Let  all  the  house 
of  Israel  know  assuredly  that  God  hath  made  that  same  Jesus,  whom 
ye  have  crucified,  both  Lord  and  Christ."  He  says,  "  From  that  time 
onward  I  have  been  preaching  Christ.  I  have  been  setting  before  my 
Hebrew  brethren  the  fact  that  there  is  no  hope  for  them  except  in  our 
Brother  Jesus."  I  received  a  letter  from  him  this  week,  in  which  he 
tells  me  his  time  is  occupied  morning  and  night  in  receiving  inquiries ; 
that  men  come  a  thousand  miles  to  talk  with  him.  See  how  distressed 
they  are,  how  real  is  the  tribulation  of  Israel !  They  want  relief.  My 
dear  friends,  we  ought  just  now,  while  we  are  here,  to  lift  up  a  prayer. 
In  our  peaceful  surroundings  we  forget  that  at  the  very  time  we  are 
here  the  Jews  in  Russia  are  suffering  the  most  awful  indignities.  An 
eye-witness  says :  "A  company  of  soldiers  rode  into  town,  and  ordered 
the  whole  village  to  leave.  They  were  driven  to  the  border,  and  when 
they  got  there,  there  were  other  bayonets  on  the  other  side  to  bayonet 
them  back.  There  is  no  resting  place  for  their  feet."  Can  you  imag- 
ine the  abject  misery  of  people  that  actually  are  driven  off  the  face  of 
the  earth  ?  No  wonder  they  cry  for  help.  He  tells  me  they  are  com- 
ing from  every  direction  for  counsel  and  help,  and  many  of  them  are 
believing.  And  then  he  said,  in  his  own  peculiar  fashion,  refeiTing  to 
the  passage  in  Ezekiel  about  the  dry  bones,  "  I  tell  you,  mein  hriider, 
the  dry  bones  are  beginning  to  stir." 

I  took  him  the  first  night  I  met  him  to  hear  a  very  popular  preacher 
in  Chicago.  The  jireacher  took  that  passage  for  his  text,  and 
Rabbinowitz  listened  very  carefully  to  all  that  was  said.     When  he 


The  World's  Conquest.  329 

got  home  he  said,  "  Mein  hruder,  that  was  not  preaching."  I  asked 
him  why.  He  said,  "  He  made  the  diy  bones  to  he  the  Chureli  of  Jesus 
Christ,  when  they  mean  Israel."  He  didn't  want  to  hear  that  man 
again.  I  told  him  a  great  many  of  our  Christian  preachers  mix  up  to- 
gether all  that  belongs  to  Israel  and  to  the  Gentile  Church,  and  do  not 
discriminate. 

Just  one  or  two  things  more.  I  never  lieard  a  man  expound 
Scripture  quite  as  he  does.  He  was  expounding  one  day  the  fifteenth 
chapter  of  Acts,  and  he  gave  a  whole  outline  of  what  is  going  to  happen 
in  the  history  of  God's  dealings  with  Jew  and  Gentile.  Just  take  that 
chapter,  the  council  at  Jerusalem,  and  in  the  findings  of  that  council 
observe  that  there  is  this :  "  Simeon  hath  declared  how  God  at  the  first 
did  visit  the  Gentiles,  to  take  out  of  them  a  people  for  His  name." 
Then  the  passage  in  Amos  which  T  have  quoted  :  "  In  that  day  will  I 
raise  up  the  tabernacle  of  David  that  is  fallen,  and  close  up  the  breaches 
thereof."  First  he  says,  "  God  has  been  taken  to  the  Gentiles,"  and 
then  after  that,  "  I  wnll  return  and  build  up  the  tabernacle  of  David." 
He  says  that  that  means  the  restoration  of  Isi-ael.  And  then  he  told 
me  —  what  I  never  knew  —  that  always  at  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles 
thej'  pray,  "  Oh  Lord,  make  haste  and  return,  and  build  up  the  taber- 
nacle of  David  which  has  fallen  down."  Then  when  He  builds  up  the 
tabernacle  of  David  which  has  fallen  down,  what  is  the  purpose  ?  "That 
they  may  possess  the  remnant  of  Edom,  and  of  all  the  heathen,  which 
are  called  by  my  name,  saith  the  Lord  that  doeth  this."  He  spoke  then 
about  the  taking  out  of  the  people,  the  Gentiles.  He  had  a  clear  idea 
of  Jesus  being  the  Head  of  the  Church.  He  was  shoAving  how  God  is 
getting  His  body  out  of  all  the  nations  to-day.  Then  he  said  to  me 
quietly,  "  Do  you  think  there  is  anj^  place  in  that  body  for  poor  little 
Israel "?  There  is  great  China  with  its  millions,  and  great  India  ;  and 
then  Israel  with  its  little  twelve  millions."  He  said,  "  My  brother,  sup- 
pose that  Jesus  Christ  gets  one  leg  out  of  China,  and  another  leg  out 
of  India,  one  arm  out  of  Japan,  and  another  arm  out  of  Africa,  and 
England  and  America  constitute  the  breast  and  the  body."  He  said, 
"  Is  there  any  place  for  Israel  ?  "  "  Yes,  my  brother,  I  will  tell  you 
where  little  Israel  is  going  to  be  —  Israel  is  going  to  fill  uj3  the  hole  in 
His  side."  Israel  made  the  hole  ;  Israel  has  got  to  be  converted  before 
that  hole  is  filled  up.  Then  he  said,  quoting  this  passage  :  "  Now  look 
at  Jerusalem  - — '  Jerusalem  shall  be  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles  until 
the  times  of  the  Gentiles  be  fulfilled.'  '  Behold,  your  house  is  left  unto 
you  desolate.  For  I  say  unto  you,  ye  shall  not  see  me  henceforth,  till 
ye  shall  say.  Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.'  "  The 
time  is  coming  when  we  are  all  going  to  see  that.  And  he  made  it 
very  real.  He  said,  "  Now,  I  am  sitting  in  my  house.  It  is  evening, 
and  I  am  lonely,  for  the  family  are  away.     I  see  a  friend  coming,  and 


330  The  World's  Conquest. 

I  look  in  the  tAviliglit  and  recognize  him  as  the  dearest  friend  I  have. 
I  rise  up  and  T  say,  '  Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.' 
So  Jesus  has  said,  '  Your  house  will  be  left  to  you  desolate,  because  you 
rejected  him.  But  the  time  is  coming  when  Israel  will  say,  Blessed  is 
he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.'  " 

When  I  came  away  I  asked  him  for  his  autograph.  He  just  wrote 
his  name  — "Joseph  Rabbinowitz,  16th  July,  1892.  Blessed  is  he  that 
cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord."  And  he  expects,  and  I  expect,  as 
the  next  great  thing,  that  all  Israel  will  hear  the  voice  of  their  Messiah, 
and  the  Spirit  will  be  poured  oiat  upon  the  house  of  Israel. 

Mr.  Wm.  E.  Blackstone  said :  — 

Herr  Rabbinowitz  stayed  in  my  house  part  of  the  time  of  which  Dr. 
Gordon  has  spoken,  and  one  day  he  said  to  me,  "  The  persecutions  in 
Russia  are  God's  fingers  upon  the  window  panes,  saying  to  Israel,  'Wake 
up,  wake  up  ! '  and  oh,"  he  said,  "  there  is  a  shaking  in  the  dry  bones. 
I  believe  it  is  taking  place  to-day  right  before  our  eyes." 

The  Jew  and  the  Bible. 

Miss  Ben-Oliel  said :  — 

My  dear  sisters  and  brothers  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  the  Messiah  and 
the  coming  King,  whose  ajiiJearing  you  are  endeavoring  to  hasten  by 
consecration  to  the  work  of  evangelizing  the  world,  this  is  no  time  for 
human  words.  Only  God's  own  Word  and  a  few  facts  illumined  by 
His  Holy  Spirit  fit  in  at  this  moment.  "  Why  stay  now  to  think  of 
Israel?"  you  may  say.  We  have  been  seeking  to  know  God's  will 
for  the  Church  and  the  work  He  desires  of  it,  and  Israel  has  as  distinct 
a  place  in  God's  plan  as  the  Church.  To  doubt  that  were  to  doubt 
every  word  of  Scripture.  What  was  God's  promise  to  Abraham ?  "I 
will  bless  thee,  and  make  thy  name  great ;  thou  shalt  be  a  blessing ; " 
and  "  I  will  bless  them  that  bless  thee  and  curse  him  that  curseth  thee." 
These  words  have  had  their  fulfillment  through  all  ages.  Remember 
the  curse  pronounced  upon  Edom,  Ammon,  Amalek,  Egypt,  Babylon, 
Tyre  and  Sidon,  Damascus,  etc.  The  downfall  of  Spain's  power  dates 
from  the  time  of  her  persecution  of  the  Jews ;  and  much  of  the  pros- 
j^erity  of  this  country  and  of  England  may  be  due  to  their  comj^arative 
kindness  to  Israel ;  and  there  is  a  day  coming,  as  Joel  says,  "  When 
I  shall  bring  again  the  captivity  of  Judah  and  Jerusalem,  I  will  also 
gather  all  nations,  and  Avill  bring  them  down  into  the  valley  of  Jehosha- 
l^hat,  and  will  plead  with  them  there  for  my  people  and  for  my  heiitage 
Israel,  whom  they  have  scattered  among  the  nations,  and  parted  my 
land."     (Joel  8  :  1,  2.)     "This  people  have  I  formed  for  myself:  they 


Thp:  World's  Conquest.  331 

sliew  forth  my  praise."  And  the  same  God  says,  "  O  Israel,  thou  shalt 
not  be  forgotten  of  me."  God's  covenant  with  them  is  an  everlasting 
one,  depending  not  on  their  faithfulness,  but  on  His. 

Of  God's  love  to  His  "  everlasting  nation  "  every  book  of  the  Bible 
bears  testimony.  "  I  have  loved  thee  with  an  everlasting  love,"  says 
Jehovah.  Would  you  read  the  Saviour  heart?  Behold  Him  weep- 
ing as  He  foretold  the  desolation  of  the  City  of  His  love !  Hear  Paul, 
our  example  missionary,  cry,  "  I  could  wish  that  myself  were  accursed 
from  Christ  for  my  brethren,  my  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh." 
"  Brethren,  my  heart's  desire  and  prayer  to  God  for  Israel  is  that  they 
might  be  saved,"  They  are  "  beloved  for  the  Father's  sake ;"  "  For 
the  gifts  and  calling  of  God  are  without  repentance." 

Only  the  promise  of  Jeremiah  30  :  10,  11  accounts  for  their  present 
existence  ;  and  of  the  future  we  read,  "  Thou  shalt  no  more  be  termed 
Forsaken  ;  neither  shall  thy  land  any  more  be  termed  Desolate :  but 
thou  shalt  be  called  Hephzibah  [my  delight  is  in  her],  and  thy  land 
Beulah  [married]  :]  for  the  Lord  delighteth  in  thee,  and  thy  land  shall 
be  married."  (Isaiah  62  :  4).  But  above  all  the  prophecies  of  temporal 
prosperity  are  those  that  tell  of  spii-itual  blessing,  when  the  receiving 
of  them  shall  be  as  "life  from  the  dead,"  and  they  shall  again  be  God's 
witnesses  in  a  more  complete  way  than  ever  before.  "  What  advan- 
tage then  hath  the  Jew  ?  "  is  still  asked  to-day,  and  the  answer  stands 
good  as  Paul  gave  it :  "  Much  every  way ;  chiefly  because  that  unto 
them  were  committed  the  oracles  of  God."  And  Romans  9 :  3,  4  is  a 
summary  of  our  indebtedness  to  them. 

The  power  and  influence  of  the  Jews  cannot  be  questioned.  It  is 
interesting  to  notice  how,  in  every  branch  of  intellectual  pursuit, 
some  Jews  shine  as  stars.  But  above  this  there  "  is  a  remnant,  ac- 
cording to  the  election  of  gi*ace";  and  we  need  only  quote  Nean- 
der,  the  Church  historian,  Edersheim,  Hengstenberg,  Capadosa,  Wolff, 
Sterns,  Cachet,  the  Herschels,  and  Bishops  Hellmuth  and  Schereschewsky, 
who  translated  the  Bible  into  Mandarin,  to  prove  that  that  remnant  is  a 
blessing  to  the  Church.  And  if  we  comjaare  these  Jews  with  others 
who,  like  Renan  and  Strauss,  have  become  infidels  and  have  used  their 
wonderful  God-given  talents  against  the  truth,  we  shall  realize  the  duty 
of  the  Church  to  work  for  the  evangelization  of  those  whom  God  has 
promised  to  use  "  as  life  from  the  dead,"  by  obeying  the  command  to 
"begin  at  Jerusalem,"  and  taking  it  to  be  literal,  as  Paiil  did, —  "to  the 
Jew  first,"  w^ho  is  prepared  by  his  religious  education,  and  by  the  lan- 
guages and  general  knowledge  which  he  has  acquired,  to  be  the  best  of 
missionaries.  There  are  Jews  in  j'our  colleges  :  do  your  duty  to  them ; 
learn  to  see  from  their  point  of  view,  and  then,  as  Paul  did,  preach 
Christ  to  them  from  Moses  and  the  prophets.  There  may  be  only 
twelve  millions  of  Jews  in  the  world,  but  do  not  overlook  them  for 


332  The  World's  Coxquest. 

that  i-eason  :  remember,  they  are  to  be  "  as  life  from  the  dead,"  The 
increase  of  the  Jewish  population  of  Palestine  has  been  very  ra])id  of 
late  years ;  and  now  there  are  from  eighty  to  one  hundred  thousand  in 
Palestine,  and  forty  thousand  in  Jerusalem  alone. 

My  father,  the  Rev.  A.  Ben-Oliel  of  Jerusalem,  after  an  experience 
of  forty-five  years'  labor  in  the  various  mission  fields,  finds  the  door  of 
access  to  the  Jews  more  widely  open  than  ever  before.  Since  he  has 
been  in  Jerusalem  the  interest  manifested  by  rabbis  and  leading  Jews 
has  been  wonderful.  There  are  now  young  men  of  wealthy  families 
who  are  giving  up  more  than  any  of  you  will  be  called  upon  to  leave, 
and  are  anxious  to  confess  Christ  openly  and  to  qualify  themselves  as 
missionaries.  If  we  believe  in  the  return  of  the  Jews  to  Palestine, 
this  is  the  moment  of  our  opportunity  to  influence  those  in  the  land 
now,  so  that  they  may  act  as  leaven  amongst  the  nation.  True,  to 
qualify  as  a  Jewish  missionary  is  not  easy;  but  why  should  not  a  band 
of  college  graduates  go  out  to  Jerusalem,  and  there  acquire  the  lan- 
guages and  Jewish  learning  necessary  under  one  who,  like  my  father, 
was  educated  as  a  rabbi,  and  can  guide  them  with  the  experience 
gained  in  a  long  and  prosperous  missionary  career?  They  would  at 
once  become  a  power  for  good  amongst  the  young  Jews  of  Jerusalem, 
holding  classes  for  mutual  edification  ;  and  from  such  a  centre  we  can 
foresee  a  stream  of  Hebrew-Christian  and  Christian-Hebrew  influence 
that  would  mingle  with  the  incoming  stream  of  Jews,  and  by  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  prepare  them  to  cry,  "  Blessed  is  He  that  cometh  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord."  May  we  not  believe  that  such  an  obedience 
to  the  command  of  our  Master  would  bring  a  rich  blessing  on  this  en- 
tire Movement  ?  for  "  I  will  bless  them  that  bless  thee,"  and  "  they 
shall  prosper  that  love  thee." 

For  work  amongst  the  Jewish  women,  who  are  not  educated  as  the 
men,  all  that  is  needed  is  a  heart  full  of  God's  own  love,  and  the  power 
to  acquire  one  or  two  languages,  and  hundreds  of  Jewish  homes  are 
open  to  hear  the  message. 

But,  above  all,  "Ye  that  are  the  Lord's  remembrancers  keep 
not  silence  and  give  Him  no  rest  till  He  establish  and  till  He  make 
Jerusalem  a  praise  in  the  earth." 


YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  SOCIETIES  CONFERENCE. 

Sunday  Afternoon,  March  4,  1894. 
Mr.  Robert  E.   Speer,  Chairman. 

The  Promotion  of  the  Cause  of  Missions. 

Mr.  John  Willis  Baer,  Secretary  United  Society  of  Christian  En- 
deavor, said  :  — 

More  and  more  is  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society,  if  I  know  any- 
thing about  it,  becoming  an  evangelistic  and  missionary  force,  number- 
ing as  it  does  neai-ly  two  millions  of  young  people  in  over  thirty-one 
thousand  Christian  Endeavor  Societies  in  thirty  evangelical  denomina- 
tions. It  has  taken  for  its  watchwords  Christ,  Co-operation,  and  Con- 
quest; and  under  God's  guidance  is  realizing  something  of  the  blessed- 
ness of  service  for  our  Master,  and  is  in  hearty  sympathy  in  every  way 
with  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement. 

Time  will  not  permit  me  to  say  to  you  all  that  is  in  my  heart  to  say, 
or  that  I  had  planned  to  say.  Briefly  then,  in  emphasizing  our  first 
watchword,  I  am  glad  to  know  that  in  ever}'  word  uttered  in  this  Con- 
vention, and  in  every  thought  that  has  been  suggested  by  the  speakers 
representing  the  different  young  people's  movements,  that  the  young 
people  of  this  land  in  the  evangelical  churches  are  all  standing  where 
you  of  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement  stand,  believing  thoroughly  in 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  in  His  Word ;  and  we  take  the  whole  Bible, 
as  Dr.  Dixon  has  said,  "  rather  than  a  Bible  full  of  holes." 

Trusting  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  strength,  each  student  that 
has  taken  the  student  volunteer  declaration  will  certainly  prosper ;  and 
it  is  earnestly  hoped  that  before  many  days  many  will  be  telhng  about 
this  Master  and  Saviour  of  ours,  to  those  who  have  never  named  His 
name,  Avho  b}^  the  thousands  are  living  to-day  in  darkness  in  foreign 
lands. 


334  The  World's  Conquest, 

But  I  must  huriy  to  my  second  thought  —  Co-oj^eration.  If  I  know 
anything  about  it,  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  stands  for  co-opera- 
tion. To  be  i^ractical,  let  me  state  that  we  are  standing  back  of  the 
denominational  Missionary  Boards,  giving  a  great  deal  of  money  to  the 
cause  of  missions  through  our  own  Boards,  and  suppljang  hundreds 
and  hundreds  of  missionaries  in  home  and  foreign  lands.  We  are  not 
doing  this  by  sending  out  missionaries  of  our  own  ;  but,  as  you  are 
applying  to  your  own  denominational  Boards,  we  are  giving  to  our  own 
denominational  Boards,  believing  as  you  do  that  the  cause  of  missions 
can  well  be  promoted  by  our  Missionary  Boards  in  our  various  denom- 
inations. Yours  is  an  interdenominational  movement,  and  so  is  the 
Christian  Endeavor  Society ;  but  at  the  same  time  each  Christian  En- 
deavor Society  is  denominational,  of  the  same  denomination  as  the 
church  of  which  it  is  a  subordinate  part.  So  we  grasp  hands  with  you 
and  work  along  denominational  lines,  Presbj^erians  supporting  the 
Presbyterian  Boards,  Methodists  the  Methodist  Boards,  Baptists  the 
Baptist  Boards,  and  so  on. 

I  bring  you  earnest  words  of  greeting  and  encouragement,  and  say 
to  you  that  the  young  people  in  the  Christian  Endeavor  Societies 
throughout  the  land  are  looking  and  watching  everj'  movement  made 
by  the  student  volunteers,  accepting  as  a  gracious  privilege  the  opi:)or- 
tunitj^  to  send  money  to  the  Boards  which  in  turn  will  send  you  to  the 
foreign  fields.  That  is  practical  encouragement  and  co-operation,  is  it 
not? 

My  thii-d  point  briefly,  and  I  have  not  time  to  elaborate,  is  Conquest. 
Christ,  Co-operation,  Conquest.  With  these  watchwords  we  will 
conquer.  And  what  about  the  conquest?  First  then,  when  we  apply 
it  directly,  as  we  will  this  afternoon,  we  will  give  and  give  systemati- 
cally and  proportionately.  I  beheve  that  there  are  hundreds  of  young 
people  who  are  giving  a  definite  proportion  of  their  income,  not  less 
than  one-tenth,  to  the  cause  of  missions  at  home  and  abroad.  Mission- 
ary secretaries  of  denominational  Boards  applaud  this  Movement  and 
commend  it,  and  are  seeking,  as  best  they  can,  to  stimulate  and  con- 
serve it.  Many  of  us  are  unable  to  go.  Many  believe  that  we  cannot 
go.  Many  of  us  are  not  pledged  to  go  as  you  are,  but  we  have  taken  a 
pledge  (every  Christian  Endeavorer  believes  in  pledges),  and  that 
pledge  will  help  us  to  transfigure  the  word  "  duty  "  into  "  privilege," 
and  to  continue  to  I'einforce  every  missionary  movement  like  the 
Student  Volunteer  Movement. 

My  third  point  in  the  conquest  that  is  before  us  is  the  gathering. 
Souls  are  to  be  won  for  the  Lord  Jesus,  giving,  going,  gathering. 
This  means  that  we  will  need  more  consecration  ;  that  the  enthusiasm 
taken  into  our  lives  at  this  meeting  must  be  thoroughly  consecrated,  so 
that  when  we  have  left,  every  one  of  lis  will  have  a  deeper  interest  and 


The  Wokld\s  Conquest.  335 

love  for  the  cause  of  missions,  and  a  firmer  determination  to  do  our  in- 
dividual duty,  trusting  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  strength.  We  want 
more  individuals  with  deeper  consecration.  A  true  raissionaiy  revival 
does  not  mean  fuller  emotion  merely,  but  it  means  ability  and  readiness 
to  do  more,  and  that  can  only  be  revealed  by  larger  self-denial. 

I  sat  in  the  gallery  of  this  church  three  years  ago  at  the  time  of 
the  meeting  of  our  General  Assembly,  and  looked  down  upon  the  spot 
where  I  am  now  standing,  and  it  is  upon  this  spot  that  Judge  Breck- 
enridge  fell  dead.  He  had  just  been  making  a  telling  speech  in  our 
assembly,  and  had  ^turned  to  take  his  seat  when  he  fell.  We  did 
not  know  immediately  that  the  life  had  gone  out.  It  wasn't  a  great 
while,  however,  only  a  few  minutes,  when  Dr.  Radcliffe,  the  pastor  of 
this  church,  came  forward  and  announced  that  the  Judge  was  dead. 
We  will,  all  who  were  present,  remember  the  wail  that  Avent  up  in  this 
room,  and  the  tears  that  flowed.  Personall}'  I  remember  the  consterna- 
tion in  my  own  heart  when  I  thought  that  one  soul  had  been  ushered 
into  the  presence  of  his  Master,  and  as  I  stand  here  this  afternoon  I  bring 
that  scene  before  me  and  before  you,  that  it  may  remind  you  that  there 
are  to-day  in  foreign  lands  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  lives  being  closed, 
—  men  that  are  dropping  away  every  day  and  dying  without  the 
Bread  of  Life.  What  are  we  going  to  do  to  bring  these  men  to  the 
Master  ?  Student  volunteers,  you  are  making  the  answer.  May  God 
bless  your  consecration  ;  and  I  pray  that  the  Christian  Endeavor  So- 
ciety, taking  for  its  watchwords,  Christ,  Co-operation,  Conquest,  ma}' 
stand  back  of  you  and  with  you,  and  support  you  by  their  prayers  and 
best  of  all  by  their  funds,  so  that  the  day  shall  not  be  far  distant  when 
there  shall  be  a  bond  of  spnpathy  between  the  two  organizations  that 
shall  not  only  be  practical  and  vital,  but,  best  of  all,  blessed  of  Him 
whom  we  all  serve. 

Missionary  Work  of  the  Young  People's  Christian  Union. 

Rev.  S.  J.  Shaw,  President  of  the  Young  People's  Christian  Union 
of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  said :  — 

In  the  name  of  the  seven  hundred  members  of  the  Young  People's 
Society  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  I  bring  you  greeting ;  and 
in  the  name  of  our  two  hundred  thousand  members  of  the  church  else- 
where, I  bring  you  greeting  to- da}'. 

First  of  all,  what  we  have  done :  Since  the  organization  of  our 
society  four  years  ago, —  and  let  me  say  that  we  include  about  one-third 
of  our  members  organized  under  the  form  of  the  Christian  Endeavor, 
and  the  other  two-thirds  under  a  constitution  which  is  known  as  the 
Young  People's  Society  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church, —  in  our 


336  The  World's  Conquest. 

society,  for  the  past  five  years,  we  have  endeavored  to  deepen  the  in- 
terest in  missionary  work,  by  holding  institntes  and  giving  an  important 
place  on  the  programme  to  raissionar}^  conferences.  And  during  the 
five  institutes  we  have  held  in  different  places,  three  of  these  have 
been  very  notable,  because  of  the  addresses  that  have  been  given  in 
this  connection.  The  place  of  meeting  two  years  ago  was  Liverpool, 
Ohio,  and  we  had  an  attendance  of  over  two  thousand ;  and  the  lead- 
ing address  given  in  this  connection  was  by  J.  Campbell  White,  a 
volunteer  student,  who  is  now  in  India,  under  the  aus})ices  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 

Last  year  we  met  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis ;  and  we  listened  there, 
among  others,  to  Dr.  IJankin,  of  Denver.  And  he  produced  such  an 
impression  that,  at  the  close  of  one  of  his  addresses  of  over  an  hour 
in  length,  holding  the  audience  in  rapt  attention,  all  arose  as  one  man, 
and  passed  a  resolution,  proj)Osed  by  Prof.  Wilbert  White,  "  That  we 
do  what  we  can,  as  young  people  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church, 
to  help  carry  the  Gospel,  not  only  to  the  remote  parts  of  our  own  land, 
but  to  other  lands,  as  God  gives  us  the  opportunity."  Now,  during 
this  coming  institute,  which  we  expect  to  hold  in  the  city  of  Philadel-. 
phia  in  July,  one  request  that  has  come  to  the  committee  is,  "  that  you 
give  missions  an  important  place  on  the  programme  " ;  and  I  have  been 
keeping  my  eyes  and  ears  open  to  catch  every  inspiration  that  T  could 
from  this  great  Convention  in  this  city. 

Now,  let  me  tell  you  what  we  expect  to  do,  in  addition  to  what  I 
have  already  indicated.  A  book  is  now  going  through  the  press  in- 
tended for  the  leaders  of  Junior  LTnions.  That  book  is  to  consist  of 
about  fifty  pages,  containing  hints  and  suggestions  about  missionary 
work,  and  to  help  them  train  boys  and  girls  into  the  duty  of  systematic 
giving.  So  much  for  our  own  church.  Nom^  let  us  consider  the  great 
problem  held  up  before  us  at  the  present  moment.  How  can  we  young 
peojjle  deepen  the  interest  of  the  society  in  this  great  missionary  work? 
First,  we  should  endeavor  to  inspire  a  deeper  interest  in  this  subject. 
How  can  we  do  this  ?  By  increasing  the  knowledge  of  missionary 
work  and  its  needs.  Give  good  reports  of  this  great  Convention  it 
has  been  our  privilege  to  attend  here  in  Detroit.  Then  we  must  ask 
our  societies  to  purchase  interesting  books,  periodicals,  and  magazines, 
which  can  be  found,  that  are  deeply  interesting  and  useful  educational 
aids,  many  of  which  find  places  in  our  public  libraries.  Then  we 
should  invite  our  volunteer  fellow  students  to  come  and  give  us  stir- 
ring addresses.  I  have  learned  that  the  young  men  in  Allegheny,  near 
Pittsburgh,  have  pledged  themselves  where  they  have  an  opportunity, 
I  tell  you  my  society  will  be  happy  to  receive  them,  and  I  think  many 
others. 


The  Wokld's  Conquest.  337 

Another  way  in  which  we  can  help  such  an  educational  interest 
is  to  ask  our  societies  to  contribute  to  help  support  a  missionary, —  to 
take  some  definite  part.  And  permit  me  just  here  to  refer  to  what  is 
being  done  in  the  congregation  with  which  I  am  connected,  in  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church.  There  is  a  medical  missionary,  Mrs.  S. 
E.  Johnson,  now  laboring  in  the  Punjab,  India,  who  was  present,  and 
delivered  an  address  at  one  of  our  conventions.  And  oiu-  society,  and 
fifteen  or  twenty  others,  are  helping  to  support  that  lady  in  India ;  and 
every  time  the  letters  come  back  from  India,  telling  of  the  progress  of 
her  work  there,  we  feel  an  increased  interest,  and  our  most  fervent 
prayers  go  up  to  God,  not  only  to  bless  our  missionaries,  but  others 
as  well. 

My  last  suggestion  is,  as  to  how  to  deepen  the  interest  of  our  young 
people  in  our  societies.  We  ask  them  to  contribute  in  a  systematic 
way,  and  pray  for  the  Holy  Spirit  to  come  upon  them.  My  dear  young 
friends,  if  we  would  do  the  good  we  ought  to  in  our  churches  in  our 
land,  and  in  other  lands,  we  have  got  to  pray  most  fervently  to  God 
that  He  fill  our  hearts  with  His  Holy  Si:)irit.  If  you  remember,  when- 
ever the  Spirit  was  poured  out  in  great  measure  on  the  early  Christian 
Church,  they  went  their  way,  preaching  the  Gospel.  My  prayer  is  that 
there  may  be  such  a  baptism  of  the  Spirit  from  this  Convention  as 
will  enable  us  all  to  go  back  to  our  places  and  do  better  work  for 
Christ  and  our  societies. 

The    Epworth   League    and   Missions. 

Rev.  Joseph  F.  Berry,  D.D.,  of  the  Epworth  League,  said :  — 

Mr.  President  and  dear  young  peojjle,  with  peculiar  joy  I  bring 
you  the  greetings  of  the  Epworth  League  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  As  you  may  know,  we  are  marching  now  a  little  over  a 
million  strong,  and  yet  we  are  only  in  our  infancy.  We  do  not  cele- 
brate until  next  summer  our  fifth  anniversary.  It  is  eighteen  years 
since  June  first  that  the  Young  People's  Society  was  organized  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  At  the  General  Conference  in  1875-1876 
the  Young  Peojjle's  Lyceum  was  formally  authorized.  In  1884  the 
Lyceum  was  merged  into  Avhat  we  called  the  Oxford  League,  which 
became  the  official  young  people's  society  of  our  church.  In  1889  the 
Oxford  League  became  the  Ej) worth  League;  and  in  1892  it  was  for- 
mally recognized  as  the  official  society  by  the  General  Conference. 
We  believe  in  the  existence  of  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement.  I 
believe  in  it  with  all  my  soul ;  and  since  I  have  been  here  it  has  been 
a  feast  of  good  things  every  minute.  As  the  old-fashioned  people  in 
the  class-meeting  used  to  say,  it  is  good  to  be  here.     It  is  good  to  be 


338  The  World's  Conquest. 

here  this  afternoon,  and  enjoy  this  delightful  fellowship.  We  have 
one  department  of  our  "  wheel,"  as  we  call  it,  that  is  almost  exclusively 
devoted  to  missionary  work.  It  is  called,  as  some  of  you  know,  the 
department  of  mercy.  In  that  department  we  provide  for  home  and 
foreign  missions.  We  have  already  done  considerable  fruitful  work  in 
our  home  mission.  In  the  city  of  Boston,  for  instance,  we  have  what 
we  call  the  Epworth  League  Settlement,  located  in  the  Italian  quarter, 
inhabited  by  the  masses  of  the  Italian  population  of  that  city;  and 
our  Epworth  Leaguers  are  living  down  there  in  that  settlement  and 
striving  to  help  them.  Our  work  for  foreign  missions  uj)  to  this  time 
has  been  largely  educational.  We  have  a  monthly  missionary  meeting, 
in  which  missionary  geography,  and  missionary  biography,  and  mis- 
sionary history  of  the  present  day  activities  of  our  church  in  the 
various  foreign  fields  are  thoroughly  studied.  We  are  trying  to 
generate  an  enthusiasm  in  the  hearts  of  our  young  people  by  getting 
them  to  see,  not  only  the  best  achievements  of  Chi'istian  missions, 
but  the  urgent  demand  for  increasing  force  and  increasing  activity  in 
all  the  mission  fields  that  have  been  opened  in  recent  years  to  the 
Christian  Church.  Just  recently,  only  last  week,  at  the  general 
executive  committee  meeting,  we  have  provided,  on  a  larger  scale 
and  in  a  more  earnest  manner,  for  instruction  in  systematic  giving. 
During  the  year  we  are  to  have  a  text  book  which  shall  emphasize 
the  duty  and  privilege  of  systematic  giving.  In  our  foreign  fields,  as 
you  know,  no  doubt,  the  League  has  been  organized  very  largely.  We 
have  Leagues  in  Norway,  in  Sweden,  Denmark  and  Italy;  and  we 
meet  every  Sunday  evening  right  under  the  shadow  of  the  Vatican. 
We  have  the  League  organized  in  India,  Japan,  China,  and  Korea. 
So  you  see  we  have  traveled  around  the  world ;  we  have  girdled  the 
old  earth  itself  with  these  appliances  of  the  League  for  the  salvation 
of  young  men  and  women. 

In  heathen  lands  we  are  going  to  do  better.  We  have  just  got 
nicely  at  work ;  and  I  say  to  you,  in  an  ofiicial  sense,  that  we  desire  to 
co-operate  with  the  Student  Movement  in  every  possible  way.  If 
there  is  any  way  in  which  we  can  help  you  to  do  more  than  we  are 
helping  you  to  do,  we  desire  to  do  that  thing.  You  have  our  hands 
and  our  hearts,  our  sympathies  and  jJrayers,  and  you  shall  have  our 
best  endeavors  that  God  may  unite  and  may  bless  your  united  efforts 
in  this  great  modern  movement  of  Christian  missions.  I  want  to  men- 
tion three  things  that  we  of  the  Epworth  League  can  do  to  help  you 
in  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement.  First,  by  insisting  upon  high 
motives  in  our  Christian  services.  We  are  going  to  try  and  discourage 
our  young  j^eople  from  asking  of  the  League,  will  it  pay?  Is  there 
anything  in  it  for  us  ?  We  are  striving  to  impress  upon  the  minds  of 
the  young  people  this :    that  anything  that  needs  to   be  done    at  all 


The  Woklu's  Conquest.  339 

pays ;  and  anything  that  pleases  God,  or  helps  lift  up  a  human  soul, 
ought  to  be  done  whether  there  is  apparent  profit  in  it  or  not.  And 
when  we,  as  students  and  Christian  workers,  come  to  recognize  that 
principle,  I  tell  you,  my  young  friends,  it  will  put  vitality  and  enthu- 
siasm and  great  poAver  into  our  efforts.  But  think  of  the  wonderful 
love  that  brought  Jesus  Christ  out  of  the  skies  to  bleed  and  die  for 
your  sins  and  mine ;  to  die  for  a  soul  in  need  in  darkest  Africa  and  in 
sin-stricken  China.  Therefore,  that  soul  must  be  saved,  because  he  is 
in  need  and  because  his  lifting  up  brings  glory  to  our  God  and  Father 
in  heaven. 

Secondly,  loyalty :  I  am  preaching  that  doctrine  a  good  deal,  as  my 
friends  very  well  know,  and  I  think  the  tide  of  denominational  loyalty 
has  been  raised,  and  is  pretty  high  to-day.  As  an  illustration,  I  was 
over  in  Illinois  a  while  ago,  and  they  told  me  about  two  little  girls, 
little  tots,  about  six  or  seven  years  of  age,  who  one  day  secured  per- 
mission from  their  mammas  to  go  out  and  visit  a  Roman  Catholic  hos- 
pital that  is  in  charge  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy.  When  they  went  out 
there  they  were  very  kindly  received  by  the  Sister  of  Mercy  who  was 
in  charge.  She  talked  with  them  pleasantly  in  the  corridor,  and  then 
she  invited  them  into  her  private  room,  and  sat  down  to  talk  with 
them.  Presently  she  put  her  hand  on  the  head  of  one  little  girl,  who 
happened  to  be  a  member  of  a  Roman  Catholic  family  in  the  city,  and 
she  said,  "  Well,  my  dear,  to  what  church  do  you  belong  ? "  The 
little  gii-1  spoke  up  very  promptly  and  said,  "  I  belong  to  the  Catholic 
Church."  «  Thank  God  for  that,"  said  the  Sister  of  Mercy.  Then 
she  turned  to  the  other  little  girl,  who  happened  to  be  a  member  of 
one  of  our  Protestant  families,  and  she  said,  "My  little  dear,  what 
church  do  you  belong  to?"  And  the  little  girl  spoke  up  promptly 
and  proudly  and  said,  "  I  belong  to  the  Methodist  Church,  and  thank 
God  for  that."  Xow,  we  all  stand  for  stanch  love  and  loyalty  to  these 
glorious  churches,  and  each  one  of  us  is  devoted,  as  he  should  be, 
to  his  own  denomination  ;  but  I  \\ash  to  say  to-day  that  we  want 
something  more  and  something  better  than  that :  we  Avant  loyalty  to 
JesiTS  Christ,  our  King  and  Master,  God  puts  conviction  into  your 
heart  and  into  my  heart,  hence  there  is  no  such  thing  as  backing  out  or 
standing  still ;  we  must  go  forward  and  do  the  Avork  that  God  in 
His  providence  has  given  us  to  do.  And  if  we  can  teach  the  great 
mass  of  Ep worth  Leaguers  this  truth,  in  reference  to  the  work  of 
missions  which  you  are  engaged  in,  we  shall  have  accomplished  a  great 
work.  I  am  not  a  Calvinist,  but  I  find  myself  somewhat  more  than  a 
Calvinist,  sometimes  verging  on  the  line  of  fatalism  itself;  because  I 
believe  that  work  done  for  God,  with  a  high  motive,  and  with  a  sin- 
cerity of  purpose,  followed  up  by  prayer,  is  not  done  in  vain. 


340  The  World's  Conquest. 

Thirdly,  steadfastness.  And  I  know  no  way  by  which  I  can  so 
directly  enforce  this  truth  as  by  appeal  to  two  passages  of  Scripture. 
May  they  burn  themselves  into  your  souls  to-day.  "  Let  us  not  be 
weary  in  well-doing,  for  in  due  season  we  shall  reap  if  we  faint  not." 
And  more  wonderful  still,  if  possible,  the  next  one :  "  Therefore,  my 
beloved  brethren,  be  ye  steadfast,  unmoveable,  always  abounding 
in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  for  inasmuch  as  ye  know  that  your  labor  is 
not  in  vain  in  the  Lord."  Believe  it  my  brothers,  believe  it  my  sisters, 
believe  it  for  yourselves,  believe  it  for  your  companions,  believe  it  with 
all  your  souls,  and  then  the  coming  of  the  day  of  salvation  is  not  very 
far  off. 

MissiONAKY    Studies   of   the    Baptist    Young   People's    Union. 

Rev.  F.  L.  Wilkins,  D.  D.,  General  Secretary  of  the  Baptist  Young 
People's  Union,  of  America,  said  :  — 

A  true  Christian  is  a  missionary.  He  is  a  "  sent  man."  He  believes 
of  necessity  in  the  missionary  enterprise.  It  is  to  him  not  simply  a 
doctrine  ;  it  is  a  conviction :  for  a  conviction  is  a  doctrine  alive  in  a  man. 

The  dream  of  the  Christ  was  the  subjugation  of  the  world.  More 
than  a  dream,  it  was  to  him  as  though  it  were  already  a  present  fact. 
He  said,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,"  and  added,  "  I  am  with  you 
always."  He  chose  men  and  sent  them  forth  as  instruments  of  conquest, 
and  set  Himself  over  them  as  their  great  champion  and  leader. 

I  rejoice  in  this  Volunteer  Movement,  and  its  noble  work  of  enlist- 
ing men  and  women  for  the  foreign  field.  I  am  glad  to  stand  here  to- 
day representing  that  branch  of  evangelical  Christians  known  as  the 
Baptists,  who  enroll  three  million  six  hundred  thousand  members  on 
this  continent.  I  cannot  say  that  all  these  three  million  six  hundred 
thousand  members  are  missionary  Christians.  That  is  the  problem  we 
are  working  at  —  to  make  them  such.  To  save  the  youth  of  our  Bap- 
tist churches  is  the  mission  of  the  Baptist  Young  People's  Union  of 
America —  to  "  save  them,"  yes,  and  to  make  them  "  savers"  also.  There 
are  two  lines  of  effort  which  should  properly  make  up  the  work  of  every 
young  people's  society :  first,  to  bring  in  all  those  that  we  can  to  be 
saved ;  secondly,  to  teach  them  how  to  reach  others. 

Our  churches  throughout  the  Northern  States  are  largely  equipped 
with  young  people's  societies.  Our  churches  throughout  Canada  are 
measurably  so.  Our  churches  in  the  south  are  only  partially  equipped. 
I  could  not  state  to-day  how  many  local  societies  we  have.  I  could 
not  state  the  number  of  the  local  membership,  for  the  reason  that  all 
our  Baptist  churches  are  independent  sovereignties,  and  they  are  very 
shy  of  any  sort  of  intervention  with  their  liberties. 


Thk  World's  Conquest.  841 

Our  yearly  international  conventions,  held  at  Chicago,  and  at 
Detroit,  and  Indianapolis,  have  been  wonders  of  enthusiasm  to  us  as  a 
people,  and  are  buried  in  the  hearts  of  all  those  who  have  a  j^rophetic 
vision  as  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for  and  of  mighty  significance. 
Our  conventions  are  not  legislative  bodies,  but  purely  advisory.  Hence, 
when  I  speak  of  what  are  our  methods  of  work,  I  shall  speak  with 
some  qualification.  I  simply  speak  of  what  now  is  the  common  con- 
sensus of  judgment  as  to  the  best  methods  of  work :  each  church  dif- 
fering quite  a  good  deal  from  every  other  church.  In  general,  however, 
there  are  certain  principles  accepted  among  us  as  the  best  rules  for  our 
young  peoj^le's  societies :  for  example,  subjection  to  the  local  church ; 
ofticers  to  be  ratified  by  the  church ;  a  school  for  Christian  training. 
An  individual  society  is  not  a  literary  club,  but  a  real  strong  religious 
organization. 

Our  societies  are  of  various  sorts  as  to  local  names.  There  are 
quite  a  number  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  form ;  a  larger  number  called 
Baptist  Young  People's  Unions  ;  almost  an  equal  number  called  by  such 
names  as  please  them  best,  another  instance  of  our  independence.  We 
are  growing  pansies,  everyone  of  them  just  looking  like  itself;  we  sim- 
ply rejoice  in  the  one  pansy  bed :  we  do  not  insist  on  the  pansies  all 
looking  alike  in  the  bed.  Possibly  we  shall  work  out  more  results  by 
allowing  such  liberty. 

So  much  for  our  methods  of  organization  and  principles  of  local 
work.  How,  now,  does  this  bear  upon  the  matter  of  making  our  great 
Baptist  force  a  missionary  body  ?  We  have  three  lines  of  study  called 
Christian  Culture  Courses, —  the  "Three  C's,"  as  we  call  them.  These 
are  the  verj^  core  of  our  movement.  We  care  not  a  whit,  as  I  have 
said,  what  may  be  the  name  of  the  young  people's  society,  or  what 
particular  form  of  constitution  it  may  think  best  for  itself.  We  say 
to  all,  "  Please  yourselves ;  choose  the  plan  you  may  think  the  most 
effective."  We  have  no  constitutional  measures  to  urge  as  absolutely 
necessary ;  but  we  do  xirge  these  educational  appliances.  We  ui'ge  that 
our  movement  be  educational ;  we  insist  upon  this ;  we  urge  this ;  we 
ring  the  changes  on  this  :  education,  education,  education. 

The  first  of  these  Culture  Courses  is  called  the  Bible  Readers'  Course. 
The  second  of  these  courses,  that  I  will  speak  of  more  at  length  in 
a  moment,  is  the  Conquest  Missionary  Course.  We  take  up  and 
study  a  missionary  theme  every  month.  Material  for  the  study  is  pre- 
sented in  our  paper,  the  Baptist  Union.  The  next  course  is  called 
the  Sacred  Literature  Course,  and  comprehends  the  general  field  of 
sacred  literature. 

Now,  the  Conquest  Missionary  Course  seems  to  us  to  be  in  advance 
of  anything  we  have  yet  tried.  In  this  way,  first,  we  get  the  study  of 
missions  before  the  individual.     You  must  get  the  individual  himself 


342  The  World's  Conquest. 

interested.  You  never  can  do  anything  unless  j'ou  mind  that  princi- 
ple all  the  way  through :  something  for  the  individual  himself  to  do- 
We  get  the  knowledge  to  him  —  he  must  be  informed  first;  and 
when  he  has  been  informed  the  next  step  is  to  move  him  into  a  meet- 
ing, into  the  Conquest  meeting,  and  get  him  to  speak  a  little  bit.  In 
that  way  his  convictions  gradually  begin  to  form,  and  you  have  a  mis- 
sionary half  born.  The  next  point  of  our  plans  is  to  agitate  for  sys- 
tematic giving.  It  has  been  talked  about  in  our  conventions,  and  will 
be  made  a  leading  feature  of  our  Toronto  convention,  soon  to  come  in 
July. 

So  much  for  the  educational  methods  of  our  young  people's  soci- 
eties. Notice  now  this  great  fundamental  fact :  we  23lace  the  young 
people's  society  as  a  leaven  inside  of  the  church ;  it  is  not  an  outside 
wheel  running  by  itself.  We  place  the  young  people's  society-  as  a 
working  force  inside  the  church,  and  hence  we  say,  "  Read  about  what 
yom-  church  is  doing  ;  study  along  the  lines  of  your  own  denomination." 
We  make  very  little  of  sporadic  missionary  effort  in  outside  lines. 
We  are  trying  hard  to  bring  our  young  people  to  work  in  certain  defi- 
nite lines.  The  one  way  to  make  a  dent  on  this  hardened  world  is  to 
remain  striking  at  one  place,  and  to  keep  on  striking  at  that  place. 
We  feel  that  we  must  mass  our  denominational  forces  against  certain 
points  that  we  have  chosen  at  home  and  abroad,  and  teach  our  young 
people  that  these  are  the  causes  they  are  to  pray  for  and  toil  for,  that 
this  is  what  God  holds  them  responsible  for. 

Now,  again,  as  to  the  matter  of  giving,  we  say  to  the  young  peo- 
ple, "  Let  us  not  undertake  to  give  as  members  of  the  young  people's 
society,  but  let  us  give  as  members  of  the  churdiP  We  say  to  the 
young  people,  "  Ask  the  church  to  authorize  for  you  some  sort  of  sys- 
tematic plan  for  benevolent  collections.  Say  that  you  want  to  train 
the  young  people  to  give  methodically  for  different  objects  during  the 
year,  and  that  you  desire  that  the  church  designate  what  is  the  proper 
object  for  this  month  and  that  and  the  other."  In  that  way  we  hope 
that  the  church  will  be  led  to  adopt  some  method  in  giving,  if  it  has 
none.  That,  in  too  many  instances,  is  what  is  the  matter  with  our 
churches.  They  have  no  method.  They  are  simply  drifting.  Now, 
if  the  young  people  can  secure  the  adoption  of  a  plan  for  their  own 
guidance,  perhaps  the  church  will  adopt  the  plan,  and  urge  the  whole 
membership  to  follow  it.  In  that  case  the  young  people  cannot  only 
canvass  the  young  jjeople's  society,  but  the  whole  church,  for  syste- 
matic givers.  They  can,  for  example,  ask  the  pastor  if  he  would  not 
like  to  have  this  wider  canvass  carried  on.  They  can  say,  "  If  you 
will  appoint  us,  we  young  people  will  take  charge  of  this  disagreeable 
work  ;  the  Lord  will  give  us  grace  to  do  it.  We  will  go  and  ask  our 
fathers  and  mothers  if  they  would  not  like  to  join  the  list  of  systematic 


The  World's  Conquest.  343 

givers."     This  is  what  we  mean  by  the  young  people's  society  as  a 
leavening  force  in  the  church  membership. 

Now,  this  thing  continued  for  a  term  of  years  —  I  trust  not  a  long 
term  —  will,  we  think,  make  our  great  company  of  Baptists  an  efficient 
missionary  force,  at  least  as  far  as  human  agency  can  do  so. 


YOUNG  MEN'S  AND  YOUNG  WOMEN'S  CHRIS- 
TIAN ASSOCIATIONS  CONFERENCE.* 

Friday  Afternoon^,  March  2,  1894. 
Mr.  S.  D.  Gordon,  State  Secretary  of  Ohio,  Chau-man. 

The  Relation  of  the  Young  Men's  and  Young  Women's  Chris- 
tian Association  to  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement. 

Mr.  C.  K.  Ober  said :  — 

The  college  Associations  are  responsible  to  the  Movement  because  it 
had  its  origin  in  them.  The  plans  have  been  made,  carried  into  opera- 
tion, and  applied  by  the  International  Committee.  For  the  contiijued 
prosperity  and  promotion  of  the  work  the  help  of  the  State  and  Inter- 
national Committees  is  indispensable.  The  help  which  the  churches  can 
gain  through  their  societies  and  Boards  is  repaid  largely,  because  to 
the  churches  themselves  come  the  results  of  the  Movement. 

This  department  of  the  work  is  the  same  in  relation  to  the  general 
work  as  the  missionary  department  of  the  college  Associations  is  to 
each  individual  Association. 

Mr.  Richard  C.  Morse  said  :  — 

The  thing  which  impresses  me  is  the  solidarity  of  the  work  with 
the  Association  Movement.  The  Traveling  Secretary  of  the  Move- 
ment is  welcomed  by  all  departments  of  the  Associations.  It  is  through 
the  other  departments  of  the  work  that  the  Student  Volunteer  Move- 
ment is  strengthened. 

*  Editor's  Note.  It  is  regretted  that  a  stenograplier  was  not  present  at  this  important 
conference.  Owing  to  this  fact  tliis  digest  of  proceedings  has  been  substituted  for  a  more 
adequate  report. 


The  World's  Conqukst.  345 

How  CAN  WE  Promote  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement  ? 

Miss  Effie  K.  Price  said  :  — 

There  should  be  a  proportionate  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Associa- 
tion in  behalf  of  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement.  Plans  should  be 
made  to  give  a  part  of  the  time  of  each  state  convention  and  of  the 
summer  conferences  to  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement.  This  Move- 
ment must  in  all  particulars  be  treated  as  a  part  of  the  Association 
movement  itself. 

Mr.  H.  O.  Williams,  in  speaking  upon  the  same  topic,  said :  — 

First,  get  reports  of  the  Convention  into  the  hands  of  influential 
persons. 

Secondly,  as  secretaries  we  can  promote  the  Movement  by  speaking 
of  the  work  being  done;  as  representatives  of  the  Movement,  the  world 
will  know  of  it  as  we  show  it  forth ;  and  by  knowing  some  on  the  field 
we  can  correspond  with  them. 

Thirdly,  by  bringing  it  to  the  direct  attention  of  our  state  commit- 
tees :  there  should  be  time  set  apart  in  the  state  committee  meeting  to 
talk  over  the  work  of  the  colleges  in  each  state. 

Fourthly,  give  sufticient  time  to  the  Movement  in  the  state  con- 
vention. 

Fifthly,  meet  the  volunteers  in  the  colleges. 

Miss  Silver,  of  Detroit,  spoke  of  the  relation  of  a  local  secretary  to 
the  Movement :  — 

First,  have  good  missionary  literature  in  the  office  and  the  best 
mission  publications  on  reading  tables. 

Secondly,  have  returned  missionaries  speak  at  the  Sunday  afternoon 
meetings,  or  have  a  tea  with  a  social  to  meet  the  missionary. 

Thh-dly,  do  personal  work  with  prospective  volunteers  among  the 
young  people  of  the  city. 

Miss  Martin,  of  Illinois,  said  :  — 

It  seems  wise  to  have  one  member  of  the  college  committee  of  the 
state  committee  in  charge  of  the  volunteer  work  in  the  state.  There 
is  not  enough  care  in  having  the  volunteers  in  the  colleges  come  in 
touch  with  the  Church  Boards.  We  who  remain  have  a  duty  to  those 
who  have  sailed  in  keeping  those  at  home  interested  in  them  and  their 
work. 


346  The  World's  Conquest. 

Mr.  H,  M.  Clarke  spoke  on  the  Corresponding  Members'  Work  in 
the  various^states :  — 

First,  secure  a  competent  corresponding  secretary  in  each  of  our 
states. 

Secondly,  have  a  section  conference  of  the  state  convention  under 
his  supervision. 

Thirdly,  have  one  of  the  student  deputation  men  a  student 
volunteer. 

Mr.  F.  H.  Burt  said  :  — 

As  this  work  bears  such  a  vital  relation  to  the  churches,  it  would 
mean  more  to  have  the  college  Associations  give,  not  to  the  church 
dii-ectly,  but  to  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement. 

Mr.  F.  S.  Goodman  said :  — 

How  can  we  assist  Association  work  in  foreign  lands  ?  A  great 
opening  will  certainly  come  to  consecrated  young  women  in  this  country 
to  go  as  foreign  city  secretaries.  What  is  needed  in  foreign  lands  is 
simply  to  offer  to  young  men  there  what  we  offer  at  home. 

The  need  in  foreign  lands  is : 

I.  Organization. 

II.  Leadership.  These  leaders  must  come  from  places  where  men 
are  trained. 

Ill-     Trained  secretaries  are  needed.     Their  support  must  come  — 

(1)  By  our  own  personal  gifts. 

(2)  By  our  own  continuous  prayer. 

(3)  Officially  in  our  work  we  must  create  a  constituency. 

(4)  Systematic  giving  through  the  extension  w^ork  of  the  As- 
sociation.    We  must  train  men  to  be  stewards  of  God. 

The  Student  Volunteer  Movement  should  keep  state  and  inter- 
national secretaries  informed  concerning  the  work  by  reports  and  sug- 
gestions coming  from  its  office. 


APPENDIX. 


THE  EDUCATIONAL  EXHIBIT  OF  MISSIONARY 
LITERATURE. 


One  of  the  most  significant  features  of  the  Convention  was  an  ex- 
hibit of  missionary  literature.  When  this  Movement  began  its  work 
in  the  institutions  of  higher  learning  it  found  less  than  a  dozen  collec- 
tions of  missionary  books  which  were  abreast  of  the  times.  Extended 
search  now  and  then  revealed  a  few  of  the  old  class  of  missionary 
biographies  and  broken  files  of  missionary  society  reports.  In  very 
few  cases  could  there  have  been  found  in  the  reading  room  a  mission- 
ary periodical.  For  eight  years  the  representatives  of  the  Movement 
have  been  emphasizing  in  season  and  out  of  season  the  importance  of 
continued  study  of  the  best  and  latest  missionary  books  and  papers ; 
catalogues  of  missionary  literatm*e  have  been  prepared  from  time  to 
time ;  courses  of  study  have  been  outlined  and  published  in  The  Stu- 
dent Yolunteer.  Through  these  influences  carefully  selected  mission- 
ary libraries  have  been  introduced  into  scores  of  institutions ;  and,  in 
the  aggregate,  several  thousands  of  the  most  helpful  and  stimulating 
books  have  been  scattered  throughout  the  student  field. 

The  conception  of  the  exhibit  came  from  the  realized  need  for  the 
founding  of  libraries  in  the  many  institutions  yet  without  them.  The 
purpose  was  to  bring  together,  in  convenient  form  for  examination  by 
delegates,  the  best  possible  selection  of  books,  booklets,  tracts,  reports, 
maps,  and  charts.  It  was  not  the  aim  to  make  an  exhaustive  exhibit, 
but  rather  one  containing  ov\y  such  material  as  bore  most  vitally  upon 
the  missionary  enterprise,  and  that  could  be  most  strongl}'  recom- 
mended to  the  students  of  the  continent,  and  be  also  within  the 
financial  possibilities  of  individual  volunteers. 

The  plan  of  the  exhibit  was  determined  by  the  several  lines  of 
literature  of  which  it  was  composed.  The  church  in  which  the  Con- 
vention was  held  proved  admirably  adapted  to  this  special  use.  The 
arrangement  of  the  gallery  of  the  Sunday  school  room  was  such  that 
it  was  possible  to  distribute  the  material  of  the  exhibit  in  most  advan- 
tageous form. 


350  The  World's  Conquest. 

I.  Books.  Those  shown  were  grouped  on  separate  tables  accord- 
ing to  several  lines  of  division.  Thus  all  works  on  one  country  were 
gathered  into  one  collection  on  a  table  by  themselves.  Groups  of 
books  were  thus  shown  on  Alaska,  Burma,  China,  Korea,  India,  Japan, 
Mexico,  Persia,  Siam,  South  America,  South  Sea  Islands,  and  Turkey. 
Again,  division  was  made  according  to  the  phases  of  missionary  effort, 
and  collections  of  books  ranged  on  (1)  evangelistic,  (2)  educational, 
and  (3)  medical  lines ;  as  also  (4)  distinctively  woman's  work.  An- 
other grouping  set  forth  separately  such  general  divisions  as  (1)  ency- 
clopedic ;  (2)  historical ;  (3)  didactic ;  (4)  surveys  of  the  world-field ; 
(5)  religions  not  confined  to  one  country;  (6)  biographies  covering 
the  world-field ;  (7)  reports  of  conferences  in  foreign  fields ;  (8)  mis- 
cellaneoixs  works. 

In  the  choice  of  those  thus  shown  there  were  combined  the  experi- 
ence of  the  Movement  and  the  valuable  advice  of  many  specialists. 
The  lists  of  books  proposed  to  be  shown  under  each  of  the  above  sub- 
divisions were  submitted  to  experts  on  each  for  theu'  examination  and 
suggestion ;  and  the  books  exhibited,  and  thereby  recommended,  had 
thus  passed  excej^tional  judgment. 

II.  Booklets  and  Tracts.  Many  weeks  before  the  Convention,  all 
of  the  various  missionary  societies  and  other  publishers  very  kindly 
sent  complete  sets  of  their  booklets  and  tracts  for  the  examination  of 
the  committee  having  this  work  in  charge.  These  were  all  examined, 
and  the  most  valuable  selected.  Those  chosen  formed  a  large  collec- 
tion of  rare  value.  Attention  was  thus  drawn  to  sources  of  missionary 
stimulus  and  information  but  little  known  before.  Some  exceptionally 
strong  matter  was  found  by  those  who  studied  this  line  of  literature. 

III.  Reports  of  Societies.  But  few  students  are  familiar  with  the 
immense  amount  of  missionary  information  contained  in  the  reports 
and  other  publications  of  the  various  Missionary  Boards  and  Societies. 
To  bring  them  into  helpful  relation  to  such  sources,  an  exhibit  was 
made  of  the  latest  reports  of  the  various  Boards  of  Great  Britain,  the 
continent  of  Euroj^e,  and  of  America.  The  co-operation  of  the  Boards, 
which  made  possible  the  special  success  of  this  feature,  was  very  re- 
markable. Between  forty-five  and  fifty  British  and  European  soci- 
eties contributed.  Special  mention  should  be  made  of  the  interest  mani- 
fested by  the  Church  Missionary  Society  of  England  and  by  the  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  each  of  which 
sent  a  complete  set  of  all  their  varied  and  highly  valuable  publications. 
Without  exception,  all  Canadian  and  American  Boards,  both  women's 
and  general,  responded  heartily  to  the  request  for  their  literature. 

IV.  Missionary  Magazines.  With  the  report  of  each  society  there 
was  shown  the  current  number  of  the  special  periodical  which  repre- 
sents the  interests  of  the  society.      Students  who  had  never  before 


The  World's  Coxquest.  351 

known  of  the  extent  and  special  value  of  these  sources  of  constant 
missionary  inspiration,  had  revealed  to  them  the  possibilities  of  exten- 
sion in  the  equipment  of  their  institutions. 

V.  Maps.  All  missionary  maps  prepared  and  published  in  Europe 
and  America  which  are  of  general  value  and  interest  were  shown.  Of 
special  note  amongst  these  were  those  of  the'Church  Missionary  Society 
of  England  and  of  the  American  Board.  In  addition  to  the  general 
maps,  many  Boards  favored  the  exhibit  with  the  maps  of  their  indi- 
vidual fields  of  labor.  These  proved  of  special  interest  to  volunteers 
who  purpose  going  out  under  the  agencies  whose  fields  were  thus 
represented . 

yi.  Charts.  In  the  presentation  of  missionary  claims  it  is  found 
that  an  appeal  to  the  mind  through  the  eye  may  be  made  most  effect- 
ive. To  this  end  charts  are  of  rare  value.  But  little  in  a  systematic 
and  exhaustive  way  had  ever  been  attempted.  For  use  at  the  Conven- 
tion some  forty  forcible  charts  were  prepared.  These  set  forth  in 
graphic  and  vivid  form  some  of  the  most  vital  facts  in  missionary 
statistics.  Thej^  were  so  prepared  and  exhibited  that  students  could 
make  copies  from  Avhich  to  take  enlargements  for  future  use  in  public 
addresses.  In  addition  to  these  main  general  features,  several  sub- 
ordinate lines  of  material  Avere  made  a  part  of  the  exhibit,  such  as  the 
publications  of  the  Student  Volunteer  Missionary  Union  of  Great 
Britain  and  the  prayer  calendars  issued  by  American  societies, 

A  special  feature  in  connection  with  the  book  department  M^hich 
proved  most  helpful  was  the  gathering  into  groups  and  setting  apart  of 
collections  of  books  for  libraries  of  varying  cost,  ranging  from  ten  to 
fifty  dollars.  Thus  for  the  individual  volunteer  there  was  shown  a 
model  library  of  eleven  books,  costing  ten  dollars,  and  for  the  Band 
one  of  twenty-four  books,  costing  thirty-five  dollars,  and  another  of 
twenty-nine  books,  costing  fifty  dollars. 

The  very  decided  and  practical  interest  in  the  exhibit  manifested 
by  the  delegates  throughout  the  several  days  of  the  Convention  was 
remarkable  and  significant.  In  the  hours  specially  set  apart  for  exam- 
ination the  gallery  was  constantly  filled  with  students  engaged  in 
systematic  and  exhaustive  study  of  these  carefully  chosen  and  classified 
works.  The  results  of  this  interest  are  immeasurable.  The  sale  of 
literature  during  the  Convention  was  large ;  and  the  books  ordered 
went  to  volunteers. 

Special  thanks  are  due  to  the  secretaries  of  the  Church  Missionary 
Society  of  England,  and  to  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Free 
Ch\irch  of  Scotland,  and  to  Dean  Vahl  of  Denmark,  for  personal  in- 
terest manifested  and  for  large  and  valuable  grants  of  literature  for 
this  purpose. 

H.  B.  Sharman. 


LIST  OF  INSTITUTIONS  REPRESENTED,  WITH  NUMBER 
OF  STUDENTS  DELEGATES. 


Manitoba. 

Manitoba  College,  Winnipeg .    .  2 

Manitoba  Medical  College,  Winnipeg 1 

St.  John's  College,  Winnipeg 1 

Wesley  College,  Winnipeg 1 

Total 5 


New  Brunswick. 

Mt.  Allison  University,  Sackville 1 

Nova  Scotia. 

Dalhonsie  University,  Halifax      1 

Acadia  University,  Wolfville 1 

Total 2 

Ontario, 

Albert  College,  Belleville 3 

Ontario  Agricultural  College,  Guelph          11 

Hamilton  Ladies'  College,  Hamilton 2 

Queens  University,  Kingston 3 

Queens  University  Medical  College,  Kingston 2 

Huron  College,  London 2 

Western  University,  London 7 

DeMill  College,  Oshawa 2 

Number  carried  forward     .                32 


The  World's  Conquest.  353 

Ontario. —  Continued. 

Number  brought  fortcard 32 

Knox  College,  Toronto 6 

McMaster  University,  Toronto 4 

Ontario  College  of  Pharmacy,  Toronto 1 

Ontario  School  of  Pedagogy,  Toronto 5 

Ontario  Veterinary  College,  Toronto 4 

Osgoode  Hall,  Toronto 2 

Parkdale  Collegiate  Institute,  Toronto 1 

Trinity  Medical  College,  Toronto 6 

University  College,  Toronto 21 

University  of  Toronto  Medical  College,  Toronto 4 

Victoria  University  (Faculty  of  Arts),  Toronto 9 

Victoria  University  (Faculty  of  Theology),  Toronto 3 

Woman's  Medical  College,  Toronto 3 

Wy cliff e  College,  Toronto 12 

Ontario  Ladies'  College,  Whitby 2 

Woodstock  College,  Woodstock 10 

Total 125 

Quebec. 

Church  of  England  Theological  College,  Montreal 1 

Congregational  College  of  Canada,  Montreal 1 

McGill  Medical  College,  Montreal 3 

McGill  University,  Montreal 1 

McGill  University  (Woman's  Department),  Montreal 2 

Wesleyan  Theological  College,  Montreal 4 

Total 12 

Arkansas. 

Hendrix  College,  Conway         1 

California. 

Healdsburg  College,  Healdsburg 2 

Colorado. 

Iliff  School  of  Theology,  University  Park 1 

University  of  Denver,  University  Park  ...  1 

Total 2 


354  The  World's  Conquest. 

Connecticut. 

Hartford  Theological  Seminary,  Hartford 2 

Berkeley  Divinity  School,  Middletown 1 

Wesleyan  University,  Middletown 2 

Yale  Divinity  School,  New  Haven                       2 

Yale  University,  New  Haven 20 

Total       ...        .27 

District  of  Columbia. 

Georgetown  University,  Washington              1 


Illinois. 

Illinois  Wesleyan  University,  Bloomington 2 

Baptist  Missionary  Training  School,  Chicago 3 

Bible  Institute,  Chicago 46 

Chicago  College  of  Dental  Surgery  Chicago 3 

Chicago  Homeopathic  Medical,  Chicago 4 

Chicago  Theological  Seminary,  Chicago 15 

Chicago  Training  School,  Chicago 10 

College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  Chicago 2 

Hahnemann  Medical  College,  Chicago 3 

Hering  Medical  College,  Chicago 2 

McCormick  Theological  Seminary,  Chicago 27 

Northwestern  University  Law  School,  Chicago 1 

Northwestern  University  Medical  College,  Chicago 2 

Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago 7 

University  of  Chicago,  Chicago 2 

University  of  Chicago,  Divinity  School,  Chicago 12 

Woman's  Medical  College,  Chicago 11 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association  Training  School,  Chicago     .    .  2 

Northwestern  University  (Preparatory),  Evanston 8 

Northwestern  University  (Collegiate),  Evanston 6 

Northwestern  University  (Garrett  Biblical  Institute),  Evanston  7 

Knox  College,  Galesburg                    3 

Illinois  College,  Jacksonville 1 

Lake  Forest  University,  Lake  Forest 7 

Monmouth  College,  Monmouth 2 

Morgan  Park  Academy,  Morgan  Park 2 

Ninnher  carried  forioard 190 


The  World's  Conquest.  355 

Illinois. —  Continued. 

Number  brought  forward 190 

Northwestern  College,  Naperville 3 

Illinois  State  Normal,  Normal 2 

Rockford  College,  Rockford 1 

Shurtleff  College,  Upper  Alton 2 

University  of  Illinois,  Urbana 6 

Westtield  College,  Westfield 1 

Wheaton  College,  Wheaton 2 

Total       207 


Indiana. 

Indiana  University,  Bloomington 4 

Wabasli  College,  Crawfordsville 2 

Franklin  College,  Franklin       2 

DePauw  University,  Greencastle 12 

Hanover  College,  Hanover 1 

Butler  University,  Irvington 3 

Purdue  University,  Lafayette 1 

Union  Christian  CoUege,  Merom 3 

Earlham  College,  Richmond 4 

Indiana  State  Normal  School,  Terre  Haute, 2 

Northern  Indiana  State  Normal  School,  Valparaiso 3 

Total       37 


Iowa. 

Iowa  Agricultural  College,  Ames         2 

Iowa  State  Normal  School,  Cedar  Falls 2 

Coe  College,  Cedar  Rapids 2 

Amity  College,  College  Springs 1 

Des  Moines  College,  Des  Moines 2 

Drake  University,  Des  Moines 4 

Highland  Park  Normal  College,  Des  Moines 1 

Epworth  Seminar}^,  Epworth 1 

Parsons  College,  Fairfield 1 

Upper  Iowa  University,  Fayette 3 

Iowa  College,  Grinnell 3 

Lenox  College,  Hopkinton 3 

Number  carried  forward 25 


356  The  World's  Conquest. 

Iowa. —  Continued. 

Number  brought  forward 25 

Simpson  College,  Indianola 4 

Iowa  State  University,  Iowa  City 3 

Iowa  Wesleyan  University,  Mt.  Pleasant 1 

Cornell  College,  Mt.  Vernon 4 

Oskaloosa  College,  Oskaloosa 1 

Penn  College,  Oskaloosa 2 

Central  University,  Pella      3 

Tabor  College,  Tabor 2 

Western  College,  Toledo          4 

Total 49 

Kansas. 

Baker  University,  Baldwin 

Dickinson  County  High  School,  Chapman 

College  of  Emporia,  Emporia 

Kansas  Normal  School,  Fort  Scott 

Hiawatha  Academy,  Hiawatha 

University  of  Kansas,  Lawrence 

Lane  University,  Lecompton 

Ottawa  University,  Ottawa 

Kansas  Wesleyan  University,  Salina 

Washburn  College,  Topeka 3 

Total 14 

Kentucky. 

Centre  College,  Danville 1 

Georgetown  College,  Georgetown 3 

Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College  of  Kentucky,  Lexington    .    .  2 

Kentucky  University  (Bible  College),  Lexington 4 

Hospital  Medical  College,  Louisville 1 

Kentucky  School  of  Medicine,  Louisville 1 

Louisville  Dental  College,  Louisville 1 

Louisville  Medical  College,  Louisville 3 

Presbyterian  Theological  Seminary,  Louisville       3 

Southern  Baptist  Theological  Seminary,  Louisville t 

Central  University,  Richmond 4 

Bethel  College,  Russellville 1 

Wesleyan  College,  Winchester 1 

Total 29 


The  World's  Conquest.  357 
Maryland. 

University  of  Maryland,  Baltimore 1 

Massachusetts. 

Amherst  College,  Amherst 1 

Massachusetts  Agricultural  College,  Amherst        ...            ...  1 

Abbott  Academy,  Andover 1 

Phillips  Academy,  Andover 2 

Boston  Missionary  Training  School,  Boston 1 

Boston  University,  Boston 3 

Harvard  Medical  College,  Boston 1 

Harvard  University,  Cambridge 5 

Protestant  Episcopal  Theological  School,  Cambridge 3 

Northfield  Seminary,  East  Northfi eld 1 

Northfield  Training  School,  East  Northfield 1 

Mt.  Hermon  School,  Mt.  Hermon 2 

Newton  Theological  Institute,  Newton  Centre 1 

Mt.  Holyoke  College,  South  Hadley 2 

Wellesley  College,  Wellesley 4 

Williams  College,  Williamstown 5 

Total 34 

Michigan. 

Adrian  College,  Adrian 2 

Albion  College,  Albion          14 

Alma  College,  Alma 2 

University  of  Michigan,  Ann  Arbor 36 

University  of  Michigan  Medical  College,  Ann  Arbor 17 

Battle  Creek  College,  Battle  Creek 3 

Benzonia  College,  Benzonia 5 

Detroit  College  of  Medicine,  Detroit 7 

Hillsdale  College,  Hillsdale 4 

Hillsdale  College  Theological  Department,  Hillsdale 6 

Hope  College,  Holland 4 

Western  Theological  Seminary,  Holland 4 

Ionia  High  School,  Ionia 1 

Kalamazoo  College,  Kalamazoo 2 

Olivet  College,  Olivet        32 

Michigan  State  Normal,  Ypsilanti 1 

Total 1l40 


358  The  World's  Conquest. 

Minnesota. 

Albert  Lea  College,  Albert  Lea 2 

Seabury  Divinity  School,  Faribault 1 

Carleton  College,  Northfield 2 

Hamline  University,  St.  Paul 1 

Macalester  College,  St.  Paul 2 

Total 8 


Mississippi. 
University  of  Mississippi,  Oxford   .    .    . 


Missouri. 

Chillicothe  Normal  School,  Chillicothe 1 

University  of  Missouri,  Columbia 6 

Central  College,  Fayette 3 

William  Jewell  College,  Liberty 2 

Missouri  Valley  College,  Marshall       3 

Park  College,  Parkville 5 

Total ~~20 


Nebraska. 

Bellevue  College,  Bellevue 1 

Cotner  University,  Bethany 2 

Union  College,  College  View 1 

Doane  College,  Crete 2 

Fairfield  College,  Fairfield 1 

Franklin  Academy,  Franklin .1 

Fremont  Normal  School,  Fremont 1 

Grand  Island  Baptist  College,  Grand  Island 1 

Hastings  College,  Hastings 1 

University  of  Nebraska,  Lincoln 6 

Gates  College,  Neligh 1 

Omaha  Theological  Seminary,  Omaha 2 

Nebraska  Wesley  an  University,  University  Place 2 

York  College,  York 1 

Total ~23 


New  Hampshire. 

Dartmouth  College,  Hanover 6 

New  Jersey. 

Drew  Theological  Seminary,  Madison 2 

Rutgers  College,  New  Brunswick 2 

Theological  Seminary  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  America,  New 

Brunswick 2 

Princeton  College,  Princeton        13 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  Princeton 9 

Total 28 

New  York. 

Auburn  Theological  Seminary,  Auburn 3 

Long  Island  College  Hosi)ital,  Brooklyn 5 

Cazenovia  Seminai-y,  Cazenovia 1 

Colgate  Academy,  Hamilton                 ■...-...  1 

Colgate  University,  Hamilton .7 

Folt's  Mission  Institute,  Herkimer  .    .    .    .     ■ 2 

Cornell  University,  Ithaca 9 

Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College,  New  York      1 

Eclectic  Medical  College,  New  York 1 

International  Medical  Missionary  Society  College,  New  York     .    .  5 

New  York  Homoeopathic  Medical  College,  New  York 1 

New  York  Medical  College  and  Hospital  for  Women,  Ncav  York,  2 

Union  Theological  Seminary,  New  York 12 

University  Medical  College,  New  York 1 

University  of  New  York  City,  New  York 1 

Woman's  Medical  College  of  the  New  York  Infirmary,  New  York,  1 

Vassar  College,  Poughkeepsie 3 

University  of  Rochester,  Rochester 1 

Syracuse  University,  Syracuse 2 

Total 59 

North  Carolina. 

Davidson  College,  Davidson 2 

Trinity  College,  Durham 1 

Wake  Forest  College,  Wake  Forest 2 

Total 5 


360  The  World's  Conquest. 

North  Dakota. 
University  of  North  Dakota,  University,  Grand  Forks  Co.         .    .       1 


Ohio. 

Ohio  Normal  University,  Ada 8 

Baldwin  University,  Berea 1 

Lane  Theological  Seminary,  Cincinnati       6 

Union  Biblical  Seminary,  Dayton 2 

Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  Delaware 10 

Findlay  College,  Findlay 5 

Denison  University,  Granville 14 

Hiram  College,  Hiram 6 

Marietta  College,  Marietta 5 

Muskingum  College,  New  Concord 1 

Oberlin  College,  Oberlin 6 

Oberlin  Theological  Seminary,  Oberlin 2 

Western  Seminary,  Oxford  • 2 

Lake  Erie  Seminary,  Painesville 2 

Wittenberg  College,  Springfield 10 

Wittenberg  Theological  Seminary,  Springfield 6 

Heidelberg  University,  Tiffin •     .    .    .  7 

Heidelberg  Theological  Seminary,  Tiffin 7 

Otterbein  University,  Westerville        8 

University  of  Wooster,  Wooster 20 

Total 1[28 


Pennsylvania. 

United  Presbyterian  Theological  Seminary,  Allegheny 3 

Western  Theological  Seminary,  Allegheny 2 

Geneva  College,  Beaver  Falls 2 

Bryn  Mawr  College,  Bryn  Mawr 2 

State  Normal  School,  Clarion 3 

Lafayette  College,  Easton 1 

Grove  City  College,  Grove  City 15 

Haverford  College,  Haverford  2 

Bucknell  Academy,  Lewisburg 2 

Bucknell  University,  Lewisburg 2 

Allegheny  College,  Meadville 5 

Number  carried  forward 39 


The  World's  Conquest.  361 
Pennsylvania. —  Continued. 

Number  brought  forward         39 

Westminster  College,  New  Wilmington 3 

Hahneman  Medical  College,  Philadelphia 1 

Jefferson  Medical  College,  Philadelphia 1 

Reformed  Episcopal  Seminary,  Philadelphia 2 

University  of  Pennsylvania,  Philadeli)hia 1 

University  of  Pennsylvania  Medical  Department,  Philadelphia  .    .  5 

Woman's  Medical  College,  Philadelphia 2 

Washington  and  Jefferson  College,  Washington 1 

York  Collegiate  Institute,  York 1 

Total 56 

Rhode  Island. 

Brown  University,  Providence 5 

South  Carolina. 

Presbyterian  Theological  Seminary,  Columbia 2 

South  Carolina  College,  Columbia  .    .        •     .    .    .    .  1 

Newberry  College,  Newberry 1 

Wofford  College,  Spartanburg 1 

Total 5 


South  Dakota. 
State  University,  Vermillion 

Tennessee. 


Southwestern  Presbyterian  University,  Clarksville 2 

Southwestern  Baptist  University,  Jackson 1 

University  of  Tennessee,  Knoxville 1 

Cumberland  University,  Lebanon 1 

Carson  and  Newman  College,  Mossy  Creek 1 

Nashville  College  for  Young  Ladies,  Nashv-ille 2 

University  of  Nashville  —  Peabody  Normal,  Nashville 3 

Vanderbilt  University,  Nashville 3 

Total 1-4 

Texas. 

Trinity  University,  Tehuacana 1 


362  The  World's  Conquest. 

Vermont. 

Vermont  Academy,  Saxton's  River 1 

Virginia. 

Randolph-Macon  College,  Ashland 1 

University  of  Virginia,  Charlottesville 1 

Emory  and  Henry  College,  Emory 1 

Hampden- Sidney  College,  Hampden-Sidney      ....             ...  2 

Union  Theological  Seminary,  Hampden-Sidney 4 

Washington  and  Lee  University,  Lexington 1 

Richmond  College,  Richmond 1 

Roanoke  College,  Salem 2 

Total ~1l3 

West  Virginia. 

Bethany  College,  Bethany 2 

Bethany  College  Theological  Department,  Bethany 3 

Total 5 

Wisconsin. 

Lawrence  University,  Appleton 2 

Wayland  Academy,  Beaver  Dam 1 

Beloit  College,  Beloit 3 

University  of  Wisconsin,  Madison 5 

Ripon  College,  Ripon 2 

Total ~ls 


Number  of  student  delegates  from  Canada 145 

Number  of  student  delegates  from  United  States 937 

Total  student  delegates 1,082 


NUMBER  OF  INSTITUTIONS  REPRESENTED  IN  EACH 
PROVINCE  AND  STATE. 

Canada. 

Manitoba 4 

New  Brunswick 1 

Nova  Scotia 2 

Ontario 24 

Quebec 6 

Total ~37 

United  States. 

Arkansas 1 

California 1 

Colorada 2 

Connecticut        5 

District  of  Columbia 1 

Illinois 33 

Indiana 11 

Iowa        21 

Kansas 10 

Kentucky 13 

Maryland 1 

Massachusetts 16 

Michigan 16 

Minnesota 5 

Mississippi 1 

Missouri 6 

Nebraska 14 

New  Hampshire 1 

New  Jersey 5 

New  York 19 

North  Carolina 3 

North  Dakota 1 

Ohio 20 

Pennsylvania 20 

Number  carried  foricard 226 


364  The  World's  Conquest. 

United  States. —  Continued. 

Number  brought  forward 226 

Rhode  Island 1 

South  Carolina 4 

South  Dakota         1 

Tennessee 8 

Texas       1 

Vermont 1 

Virginia 8 

West  Virginia 2 

Wisconsin  5 

Total 257 

Total  number  of  institutions  represented  294. 

CLASSIFICATION  OF  INSTITUTIONS  REPRESENTED. 

Preparatory  Schools 12 

Normal  Schools 12 

Training  Schools 7 

Agricultm-al  Colleges 4 

Law  Schools '2 

Medical  Colleges 36 

Theological  Seminaries 46 

Colleges      175 

Total       "294 

PERSONNEL  OF  THE  CONVENTION. 

Student  Delegates 1,082 

Secretaries  and   other   Representatives  of   Foreign  Missionary 

Boards  and  Societies         54 

Returned  Foreign  Missionaries 63 

Representatives  of  National  Organizations  of  Young  People's 

Movements 6 

Fraternal  Delegates  (Great  Britain) 3 

Fraternal  Delegates  (America) 2 

Professors  and  other  Instructors  in  educational  institutions  ...  37 
International    and    State    Secretaries  of   Young  Women's   and 

Young  Men's  Christian  Associations 36 

Volunteers  at  present  out  of  school •  16 

Home  Missionaries 4 

Ministers  (not  resident  in  Detroit) 4 

Others  who  registered,  but  are  unclassified      18 

Total 1,325 


INDEX. 


A. 

Achievements,  Past,  in  China,  the 
Foundation  and  Guarantee  of  Fu- 
ture Success,  231-234. 

Adams,  James  E.,  159. 

Address  of  Welcome,  1. 

Africa :  Appeal  for  workers  in,  294, 
295;  Cape  General  Mission,  286; 
Conference  on,  284-295 ;  efficiency 
of  native  helpers,  229;  geographi- 
cal survey  of,  284;  Mohammedan 
University  in  Cairo,  291;  success 
of  medical  missionaries  in,  290. 

Africa,  A  Geographical  Survey  of, 
284-285. 

Alaska,  140. 

Albert,  Prince  Consort,  quoted,  110. 

American  Baptist  Mission,  270. 

American  Board,  97,  125,  312. 

American  Lutheran  Mission,  270. 

American  Methodist  Mission,  270. 

American  Presbyterian  Mission,  303. 

American  School  of  Classical  Studies 
at  Athens,  311. 

Apostolic  Succession,  39,  109. 

Appeal:  For  funds,  117,  118;  for  vol- 
unteers for  China,  52 ;  for  workers 
in  Africa,  294,  295;  for  workers  in 
China,  241,  242;  for  workers  in 
Kwang  Sin,  225;  from  India,  159. 

Appeal,  An,  to  Students  for  the  For- 
eign Field,  144-148. 

Appendix,  347. 

Ashmore,  Dr.,  quoted,  11. 

Assisi,  Francis,  of,  4. 

B. 

Babis,  305. 

Baer,  John  Willis,  152,  333. 

Baldwin,  Rev.  Dr.  S.  L.,  141,  252. 

Baptist  Missionary  Society,  8. 

Baptists,  number  of,  340. 

Baxter,  Richard,  165,  166. 

Beach,  Rev.  H.  P. :  Jesus  the  Healer, 
204,  205;  231;  Practical  Prepara- 
tion of  the  Volunteer,  26-32;  183. 

Beaver,  Gilbert,  155. 


Beck,  John,  93. 

Beirut  I'ress.  303. 

Ben=Oliel,  fliss,  312;   The  Jew  and 

the  Bible,  330-832. 
Berry,    Rev.    Dr.    Joseph    F.,    The 

Epworth  League  and  Missions, 
337-340. 

Bible  :  Distinction  between  knowing 
and  knowing  about,  35  ;  impor- 
tance of  devotional  study  of,  33  ; 
study  by  Mohammedans,  308  ; 
translation  into  Korean,  265  ; 
translation  of,  by  Judson,  22  ; 
translations  of,  in  Levant,  303; 
value  of  early  morning  study  of, 
35,  36. 

Bigelow,  Gertrude  S.,  228,  268. 

Biograpliies,  value  of,  27. 

Blackstone,  William  E.,  46;  a  Geo- 
graphical Survey  of  Africa,  284- 
285 ;  295,  322,  330. 

Board,  importance  of  knowing  your 
own,  26. 

Boggs,  Rev.  Dr.  W.  B. :  Educational 
Work  and  Main  Aims  of  Mission- 
ary Labor,  176-177;  Work  Among 
the  Depressed  Classes  in  India, 
270-272. 

Boniface,  22. 

Bowen,  George,  quoted,  165. 

Bradford,  Rev.  Dr.  A.  H.,  quoted, 
14. 

Brainerd,  David,  missionary  to  the 
American  Indians,  123-125,  215. 

British  Movement,  origin  of,  83. 

Brock,  fir.,  249. 

Bryan,  Rev.  R.T.,182;  Past  Achieve- 
ments in  China  the  Foundation 
and  Guaranty  of  Future  Success, 
231-234. 

Buchanan,  Claudius,  124. 

Buddhism  in  Burma,  279;  intense 
atheism  of,  279. 

Bunyan,  John,  166. 

Burma  :  Criminal  ignorance  of  na- 
tive doctors  in,  213;  devil  wor- 
ship, 278  ;  number  of  Christian 
churches  in,  199. 

Burt,  F.  H.,  346. 


366 


INDEX. 


c. 

Cairo,  Mohammedan  University  in, 
2ni. 

Calcutta:  Cable  message  from,  159; 
Conference  in,  148;  number  of 
students  in,  63. 

Call :  A  Divine,  indispensability  of, 
19;  to  be  missionaries,  52-.53. 

Call,  A,  From  the  Field,  1.59,  160. 

Cambridge  Band,  83. 

Cambridge  Seven,  85. 

Cape  General  Mission,  42,  286. 

Carey,  William:  His  determination 
to  be  a  missionary,  124,  212  ;  his 
translation  of  the  Bible,  22; 
quoted,  104,  129. 

Ceylon,  .Jaffna  College,  102. 

Chalmers,  Dr.,  106  ;  quoted,  126. 

Charteris,  Prof.,  quoted,  36. 

Chester,  Rev.  S.  H.,  184. 

China  :  Aborigines,  seventy  different 
tribes  of,  47;  appeal  for  volun- 
teers for,  52,  60;  conference  on, 
231-253;  converts  of,  233;  dearth 
of  physicians  in,  i^l4;  difficult 
languages  of,  50;  estimate  of  pop- 
ulation of,  47,  .55;  great  accessi- 
bility of  people,  56;  ignorance  of 
native  physicians  in,  206;  inade- 
quate supply  of  missionaries  in, 
46;  influence  of  dispensaries  and 
hospitals  in,  237;  leprosy  in,  206; 
life  of  the  women  in,  240,  241; 
Literati  of:  The  enemies  of  mis- 
sionaries, 243;  unreached  by  the 
Gospel,  242;  medical  missions  in, 
205;  number  of  communicants  in, 
50;  number  of  missionaries  in, 
232;  number  t)f  patients  annually 
treated  in,  206;  opium  suicide  at- 
tempted by  a  woman  in,  58; 
oijium  suicide  in,  57,  240;  politi- 
cal system  of,  235;  results  of  mis- 
sionary efforts,  231 ;  scarcity  of 
women  doctors  in,  225 ;  social  dis- 
eases of,  206;  spiritual  needs  and 
claims  of,  46-61;  ten  millions  of 
Mohammedans  in,  249;  what  a 
woman  can  do  on  medical  lines 
in,  237-239;  woman  and  her 
wrongs  in,  239-242;  work  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion in,  101-102. 

China:  Her  Possibilities,  234-237. 

China  Inland  Mission.  Story  of,  34. 

Chinese :  Christian  converts  favored 
by  the  government,  245;  dress 
adopted  by  missionaries,  56;  lan- 
guage enriched  by  missions,  182; 
rapid  method  of  acquiring,  story 
of,  50,51;  receptivity  to  Gospel 
truth  of,  60;  students  evangeliz- 
ing Africa,  102. 

Christ:  A  living,  55,  158;  re-incar- 
nated in  us,  167;  reproducing  the 


life  of,  133;  che  living  manifesta- 
tion of,  61;  the  two,  119. 

Christ  as  the  best  Christian  Mission- 
ary, 188-191. 

Christian  Colleges  in  North  China, 
183. 

Christian  Endeavor,  United  Society 
of,_  152,  333. 

Christian  Keformation  in  the  Orient, 
296-299. 

Christian  Unions  in  the  Universities 
of  England,  84. 

Chunars,  276. 

Church  Missionary  Society  of  Eng- 
land, 82,  270,  350;  college  of,  28. 

Church  of  England,  converts  in  India 
of,  200. 

Clarke,  H,  n.,  346. 

Classification  of  institutions  repre- 
sented at  Detroit  Convention,  364, 

Cleveland  Convention,  62,  63,  65,  71, 
72,  154. 

Coan,  Rev.  Frederick  Q. :  Methods 
in  the  Country,  194-196;  313;  the 
Present  Evangelistic  Outlook  in 
the  Levant,  304-309;  143. 

Cochins,  199. 

College  course,  a  test  of  mental  pow- 
er, 25. 

Conference  of  Instructors  in  Colleges, 
Theological  Seminaries,  and  Fit- 
ting Schools,  315-321;  on  Africa, 
284-295;  on  Educational  Woi'k, 
171-186;  on  China,  231-253;  on 
Evangelistic  Work,  187-203;  on 
Evangelization  of  the  Jews,  322- 
332;  on  India,  270-283;  on  Japan 
and  Korea,  254-269;  on  Medical 
Missions,  204-219;  on  Special 
Fields,  231-314;  on  the  Levant, 
29(5-314;  on  Woman's  Work,  220- 
230;  on  Young  Men's  and  Young 
Women's  Chiistian  Associations, 
344-346;  on  Young  People's  So- 
cieties,   333-343. 

Congregational  Church  of  Japan,  98. 

Corresponding  Members'  Work  in 
Various  States,  346. 

Cossum,  W.  H.,  63. 

Crisis,  The  Present,  in  Japanese 
Missions,  257-261. 

Cyril,  missionary  to  the  East,  22. 

D. 

Dairyman's  Daughter,  The,  166. 

Daniells,  Miss  C.  H.,  fl.D.,  237. 

Dargan,  Edwin  C,  321. 

Death,  triumjihant,  story  of,  48. 

Delitszch,  Prof.,  325. 

Dennis,  Rev.  Dr.  James  S.:  Actual 
Results  of  Education  in  Mission- 
ary Work,  177-181;  the  Strat- 
egic Import  of  Missions  in  the 
Levant,  229-304;  314. 


INDEX. 


367 


Depressed      Classes,      The,       Work 

iunons,  270-272. 
Dharma,  Avatar,  140. 
Dickens,  Charles,  quoted,  15. 
Doddridge.  Phillip,  160. 
Doshisha,  the,  98,  100. 
Dowkontt,  Dr.,  211. 
Drummond,  Prof.  Henry,  quoted,  10. 
Duff,  Alexander,  103. 
Dutch  Kefoimed  Church,  313. 
Duty,  The,  of  the  Church  to  Preach 

the  Gospel  to  the  Jews,  323-330. 


Eastern  Church  :  A  false  witness  to 
Christ,  300,  301 ;  mariolatry  and 
sacerdotalism  of,  300;  member- 
ship of,  300. 

Eastern  Question,  its  complexity, 
309. 

Eddy,  Sherwood,  An  Appeal  to  Stu- 
dents for  the  Foreign  Field,  144- 
148. 

Edersheim,  331. 

Educated  Classes  in  India,  How  to 
do  Missionary  Work  among  the, 
273-275. 

Education:  Defined,  20;  heathen  sys- 
tem of,  182;  industrial,  40. 

Educational  campaign  of  the  Student 
Volunteer  Movement,  71. 

Educational  Conference,  171-186; 
General  Discussion  of,    181. 

Educational  Exhibit,  The,  of  Mis- 
sionary Literature,  349-351;  79. 

Educational  Work:  Delined,  171;  its 
object.  172. 

Educational  Work  and  Main  Aims  of 
Missionary  Labor,  176-177. 

Educators,  The,  opportunity,  244- 
247. 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  123-124. 

Egede,  Hans,  Missionary  to  Green- 
land, 93. 

Egypt,  seclusion  of  women  in,  293. 

Egypt,  as  a  Mission  Field,  285-286. 

Emerson,  quoted,  109. 

Empress,  Dowager  of  China,  235. 

Epworth  League:  its  development, 
337 ;  in  foreign  lands,  338. 

Epworth  League,  The,  and  Missions, 
337-:340. 

Evangelism,  two  extreme  methods 
of,  8. 

Evangelistic  Work,  The  Personal 
Sweetness  and  Privilege  of,  201- 
203. 

Evangelistic  Work  Conference,  187- 
203. 

Evangelistic  Work  in  Japan,  261- 
264. 

Evangelization :  Defined.  107  ;  its 
simplicity,  108;  precedes  educa- 
tion, 42.  93.  108;  Protestant  theory 


of,  90;  Roman  Catholic  theory  of, 

90. 
Evangelization  of  the  World:    The 

watcli-crv  of  the  Movement,  81;  a 

possibility,   187,   190. 
Evangelization,  Tlie,  of  the  World  in 

tliis  Generation,    105-115. 
Evans,  Hiss  J.  Q.,   184;  Women    in 

Educational     Work     on    Foreign 

Fields,  226-228. 
Executive   Committee,   members  of, 

82. 
Executive  Committee,  Report  of,  62- 

82.    See  Three  Years  of  Progress. 


F. 


' J 


Faber,  F.  W.,  quoted,  112. 

Faith,  the  condition  of  successful 
service,  163. 

Farewell  Address,  162-167. 

Features  of  the  Korean  Field,  265- 
266. 

Field's  future,  161. 

Ford,  Rev.  George  A.:  The  Personal 
Sweetness  and  Privilege  of  Evan- 
gelistic Work,  201-203;  Christian 
Reformation  in  the  Orient,  296- 
299. 

Foreign  Lands,  How  Assist  Associa- 
tion Work  In,  346. 

Foreign  Missionary  Work :  High  in- 
tellectual i^reparation  demanded 
by,  20;  its  one  end,  171;  its  scope, 
21 ;  joy  of  the  work,  1:59. 

Francke,  of  Halle,  122. 

Eraser,  Donald,  80 ;  an  Impulse  to  Mis- 
sionary Service,  157-1.59;  quoted, 
88,  118;  the  Origin  of  the  British 
Movement,  83-87. 

Free  Church  of  Scotland,  3-50. 

Frost,  rir.,  Christ  as  the  l)est  Chris- 
tian Missionary,  188-191. 

Fulfillment  of  Prophecy  in  Africa, 
286-288. 

G. 

Girls'  Schools,  268-269. 

Gladstone,  William  E.,  quoted,  309. 

God,  being  in  toucli  witli,  157. 

Goethe,  quoted,  109. 

Goodman,  F.  S. :  A  word  of  thanks 
from  the  Convention,  152;  how 
we  can  assist  Association  Work 
in  Foreign  Lands,  346. 

Gordon,  Rev.  Dr.  A.  J. :  Quoted,  101; 
the  duty  of  the  Church  to  preach 
the  Gospel  to  the  Jews,  323-330; 
the  Man  of  God  and  the  Word  of 
God,  90-96;  the  Spirit  in  His 
Work  and  Pi-eparation  for  Mis- 
sionary Enterprise.  119-130. 

Gordon,  S.  T.,  344. 

Greek  Church.  314. 

Griffin,  Rev.  Z.  F.,  139. 


368 


INDEX. 


Griffith,  John,  inllnence  of,  243. 
Groenendyke,  Miss  :  Woman's  Work 

in  Africa,  229;  288,  292,  294. 
Guinness,  Geraldine :  Consecration 
Service,  131-137;  the  Spiritual 
Need  and  Claims  of  China,  54-61; 
Woman  and  her  Wrongs  in  China, 
239-242;  Woman's  Evangelistic 
Work  in  China,  224-226. 

H. 

Hale,  Edward  Everett,  quoted,  6. 

Hallam,  Arthur,  (luoted,  91. 

Hamilton,  Rev.  J.  Taylor,  181. 

Hannington,  Bishop,  17. 

Happer,  Rev.  Dr.  Andrew  P.,  138; 
the  Educator's  Opportimity,  244- 
247. 

Haystack  prayer  meeting,  97. 

Heathen  homes,  accessibility  of,  209. 

Heber,  Bishop,  quoted,  20. 

Hebrews,  lifty  societies  for  the  evan- 
gelization of,  124. 

Hengstenberg,  331. 

Higher  Criticism,  256,  264. 

Hill,  Bishop,  his  death,  85. 

Hindu  :  Mental  characteristics  of  the, 
273 ;  western  influence  on,  274. 

Holy  Ghost:  Baptism  of,  126,  152, 
201;  filling  of,  38,  61,  132,  286; 
fullness  of,  134,  136,  138;  motive 
power  of,  121;  power  of,  135,  165, 
191,  192;  the  enduement  of,  122, 
123,  125;  why  given,  133. 

Hottentots,  skillful  as  herbal  doc- 
tors, 290. 

Howe,  Gertrude,  249. 

Hulbert,  Prof.  H.  W. :  Our  Relation 
to  the  Maintenance  of  a  True 
Missionary  Spirit  in  our  Institu- 
tions, 318;  321. 

Hume,  Rev.  Robert  A. :  How  to  do 
Missionary  Work  among  the  Ed- 
ucated Classes  in  India,  273-275 ; 
Object  of  Educational  Work  in 
Missions,  172-174. 

Hunt,  E.  L.,  Our  Relation  to  the 
Wise  Development  of  the  Volun- 
teer Movement,  319. 

I. 

India:  Advantages  in  Work  among 
the  Depressed  Classes,  271;  ad- 
vice to  beginners  in  missionary 
work  in,  278;  barbarous  medical 
practise  in,  213;  climate  of,  282; 
conference  on,  270-283;  encour- 
agements in  work  among  de- 
pressed classes  in,  272;  famine 
in,  200;  medical  work  in,  282; 
mental  characteristics  of  Hindu 
in,  273;  population  of,  21;  rising 
movement  among   the  low  caste 


people  in,  200;  social  visiting  in, 
281;  teaching  of  eternal  punish- 
ment in,  275;  western  influence 
on  Hindu  of,  274. 

Infallibility  Decree,  324. 

Institutions  represented  at  Detroit 
Convention,  with  number  of  stu- 
dents delegates,  352-362. 

Intellectual  Preparation,  The,  of  the 
Volunteer,  19-26. 

Irenaeus,  22. 

Irish  Pre.sbyterian  Church,  158. 


J. 


Jaffna  College,  Ceylon,  102. 
Jameson,  Mr.,  39. 

Japan :  Anti-foreign  relations  of, 
259;  anti-foreign  spirit  opposed 
to  educational  work  of  mission- 
aries in,  176;  Bible  women's  train- 
ing schools  of,  175;  Congrega- 
tional Church  of,  98;  education 
of  girls  in,  184;  girls'  schools  of, 
268;  government  schools  of,  175; 
kind  of  men  needed  for  work  in, 
254;  Kumamoto  Band,  98;  men 
of  nervous  temperament  not 
needed  in,  255;  native  ministry 
well  trained  in,  260;  Nieodemus 
a  familiar  tyj^e  in,  264;  political 
system  of,  258,  259;  religious  tol- 
eration only  nominal  in,  229; 
schools  of,  174;  value  of  the  work 
of  theological  professors  in,  261; 
women  evangelists  needed  in,  257; 
work  of  evangelization  among  the 
scattered  tribes  of  Karens,  by  na- 
tives of,  199;  work  of  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  in, 
99,  100. 

Japanese  students'  readiness  to  accept 
Christ,  story  of,  100,  101. 

Jesuits,  90;  missionaries  of,  158. 

Jews  :  Conference  on  the  Evangeliza- 
tion of,  322-332;  Duty  of  the 
Church  to  Preach  the  Gospel  to, 
323-330;  number  of,  322;  number 
of  societies  for  the  evangelization 
of,  124;  power  and  influence  of, 
331;  present  condition  of,  323; 
receptivity  of,  to  the  Gospel  mes- 
sage, 313;  sufferings  in  Russia, 
328. 

Jew,  The,  and  the  Bible,  330-332. 

Judson,  Adoniram :  Driven  from 
Burma,  114;  translation  of  Bible, 
22;  9,  124,  198. 


K. 

Kaffir  tribe,  114. 

Kajarnak,  93. 

Kalley,  Dr.  Robert,  210. 


INDKX. 


369 


Karens  :  Church  Members  and  Chris- 
tian Cliurclies  araongr  tlie,  281; 
tradition  of,  108,  100;  wise  policy 
in   mission  of,  8. 

Keith  =  Falconer,  duoteq,  79,  313. 

Keller,  Frank,  204 ;  Our  Opportu- 
nity Among  Medical  Students, 
212-21(5 ;  ()3. 

Kerr,  Dr.  J.  Q.,  205,  20(5. 

Keswick,  Conference  at,  84,  85,  158. 

Kind,  Tlie,  of  Men  Needed  for  the 
Work  in  Japan  and  Preparation 
for  It,  2r)4-2r)7. 

Kingman,  Rev.  Henry,  Tlie  Need 
of  Men  and  AVonien  of  Literary 
Tastes  in  Cliina,  242-244. 

Kingsley,  Charles,  tribute  to,  15. 

Knox,  Rev.  Dr.  Q.  W. :  Concerning 
tlie  education  of  girls,  184;  per- 
sonal testimony  of,  139;  the  Pres- 
ent Crisis  in  Japanese  Missions, 
257-201;  181;  43-45. 

Korea:  Almost  without  a  religion, 
266;  features  of  the  field,  205  ; 
first  Protestant  mission  in,  265; 
treatment  of  disease  by  native 
doctors  in,  213. 

Kumamoto  Band,  98. 

Kwang  Sin :  Evangelistic  work  in, 
225;  population  of,  225. 

L. 

Lambeth,  Rev.  W.  R.,  205. 
Leonard,  rir..  The  Best  Method  of 

Training  Evangelists,  190-198. 
Leprosy  in  China,  200. 
Levant :  Character  of  Oriental  Chri.s- 
tians  in,  297;  Christian  reforma- 
tion in,  206;  government  of,  300; 
high  schools  and  colleges  of,  304; 
need  of  evangelical  reformation 
in,  300;  nominal  Christianity  of, 
300;  political  disintegration  of, 
301,  302  ;  Political  Situation  of, 
as  Relates  to  Mission  Work,  309- 
312;  Present  Evangelistic  Outlook 
in,  304-309;  Strategic  Import  of  | 
Missions  in,  299-304;  twenty-six 
translations  of  Bible  for  use  in, 
303;  AVord  of  God  in  eleven  dis- 
tinct languages  in,  302. 

Leyenberger,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  A.,  Value 
of  Services  of  Native  Helper,  251, 
2.J2. 

Lieber,  Francis,  quoted,  103. 

Light  of  Asia,  49. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  24. 

Literati :  Examinations  in  China  of, 
240;  230;  their  hatred  of  mission- 
aries, 242. 

Livingston,  David :  As  a  leader,  14; 
quoted,  129;  230. 

London  Times,  quoted,  324. 

Lovedale,  29. 


Lull,  Raymond,  4,  17. 

Lund,    Hannah,   Woman's   Work  in 

Jajiaii.  2<;(J,  207. 
Luther,  flartin,  cpioted,  105,  127, 128. 
Lyon,  D.  Willard,  The  Significance 

ami  Work  of  the  Volunteer  Band, 

87-90;  63;  284. 

M. 

Mackay,  Alexander,  (juoted,  29,  148, 
1.58,  313. 

Mackenzie,  Dr.,  200. 

Magna  Charta  of  Evangelistic  Work, 
193. 

Maintenance  of  a  True  Missionary 
Spirit  in  our  Institutions,  Our 
Relation  to  the,  318. 

Man,  The,  of  God  and  the  Word  of 
God,  90-96. 

Mangolore,  29. 

Map  of  the  Avorld,  the  best  prayer 
book.  121. 

Marsden,  Edward,  140. 

Martin,  fliss,  345. 

Martyn,  Henry,  104,  124. 

Mazhabi  Sikhs,  270. 

McCarthy,  Rev.  rir.,  252 

McCheyne,  Murray,  124. 

McCosh,  Dr.,  (quoted,  98. 

McLauren,  Rev.  Dr.  Donald  B., 
Address  of  Welcome,  1. 

Medical  Lines  in  China,  What  a 
Woman  Can  Do  on,  237-239. 

Medical  Missionaries,  careful  prepar- 
ation needed,  209. 

Medical  Missionary  College,  its  need 
demonstrated,  210. 

Medical  Mission  Conference,  204-219. 

Medical  Missions :  Argument  in  favor 
of,  211;  sketch  of,  in  China,  205- 
207. 

Men,  The  Kind  of.  Needed  for  the 
Work  in  Japan,  and  the  Prepara- 
tion for  It,  254-257. 

Methods  in  the  Shantung  Mission, 
102-194. 

Method,  The  Best,  of  Training  Evan- 
gelists. 19(>-19S. 

Methods  in  the  Country,  104-196. 

Metropolitan  Talternacle,  111. 

Mexico  :  Disestablishment  of  church 
in,  324;  Old,  population  of,  40. 

Mihtars  or  Khakrobs,  270. 

Mikado's  Emi>irc,  209. 

Miller,  fir.,  204. 

Miller,  Prof.  C.  Armand,  Our  Rela- 
tion to  the  Individual  Volunteer, 
310. 

Mirza  Ibraheem,  143. 

Missionaries:  Testimony  of,  regard- 
ing support  of  native  helpers,  7; 
tbe  great,  were  intellectual  lead- 
ers, 21. 

Missionary  Labor,  Main  Aims  of, 
176-177. 


370 


INBEX. 


Missionary  Service,  How  May  We 
Secure  Medical  Volunteers  for, 
216-21-9. 

Missionary  Studies  of  the  Baptist 
Young   People's  Union,  340-343. 

Mission  Schools:  Direct  results  of,  in 
Syria,  179  ;  economy  of,  177  ;  in- 
direct results  of,  178;  principal 
work  of,  177  ;  the  employment  of 
unbelievers  as  instructors  repro- 
bated, 177;  their  only  justifica- 
tion, 177. 

Missions,  seven  great  vponders  of, 
115. 

Missions,  The  Promotion  of  the 
Cause  of,   333-335. 

Moffat,  Robert,  quoted,  15. 

Moliammedans :  Martyr,  the  first, 
143;  study  of  the  Bible  by,  308; 
work  among,  under  cover  in  Per- 
sia, 306. 

Moradabad  District,  276. 

Moravian  Board,  153. 

Moravian  Brotherhood,  122. 

Moravians,  missionary  work  in  Lab- 
rador, 92. 

Morrison,  Robert,  9. 

Morse,  Ricliard  C,  344. 

Morse,  firs.  Richard  C,  The  Wom- 
en's Boards  and  the  Student  Vol- 
unteer Movement,  223. 

Mott,  John  R. :  Executive  Committee 
Report,  or  Tliree  Years  of  Prog- 
ress, 62-82 ;  Response  to  Welcome, 
2;  the  Last  Message  of  the  Lord, 
150-151;  117,  137-138,  157,  162. 

Mount  Hermon,  81. 

Movement,  The  Rising,  Among  the 
Low  Caste  People  of  India,  200- 
201. 

Murch,  Rev.  Chauncey :  Egypt  as  a 
Mission  Field,  285,  286;  291;  294. 

Murdered  Millions,  215. 

Murray,  Rev.  Andrew,  286. 

N. 

Napoleon,  quoted,  107. 

Native  helpers,  value  of,  251. 

Neander,  331. 

Need,  The,  of  Men  and  Women  of 
Literary  Tastes  in  China,  242-244. 

Neesima,  Joseph,  quoted,  89;  98. 

Nestorians,  number  of,  305. 

Nevius,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  L. :  As  a  leader, 
14;  author  of  "Methods  of  Mis- 
sion Work,"  7;  influence  of,  5; 
quoted,  10,  11,  12,  28,  188,  192. 

New  Hebrides,  28. 

Newton,  John,  124. 

Nirvana,  meaning  of,  280. 

Noon=Watch  of  prayer,  89,  90. 

Norfolk  Island,  29. 

North  China,  183;  College  of,  184. 

Northfield  Conference,  89,  101,  277. 


Number  of  Institutions  Represented 

at  Detroit  Convention,  363. 

o. 

Ober,  C.  K.,  The  Relation  of  the 
Young  Men's  and  the  Young 
Women's  Christian  Associations 
to  the  Student  Volunteer  Move- 
ment, 344. 

Object  of  Educational  Work  in  Mis- 
sions, 172  -174. 

Ohlinger,  Rev.  F.,  Features  of  the 
Korean  Field,  265,  266. 

Oltmans,  Rev.  A. :  The  Kind  of  Men 
Needed  for  the  Work  in  Japan  and 
the  Preparation  for  It,  254-257  ; 
140. 

Ontologists,  31. 

Opium  suicide,  attempted  by  a  man 
in  China,  57;  attempted  by  a 
woman  in  China,  58. 

Opportunity,  The,  for  the  Evangel- 
ist in  China,  247-249, 

Opportunity,  Our,  Among  Medical 
Students,  212-216. 

Orange,  Prince  of,  quoted.  111. 

Oriental  Cliristians,  chief  enemies  of 
missionary  projects,  298. 

Origin,  The,  of  the  British  Move- 
ment, 83-87. 

Outlook,  The  Present  Evangelistic, 
in  the  Levant,  304-309. 

Oxford  Holy  Club,  97. 

P. 

Parker,  Rev.  Peter,  205. 

Parliament  of  Religions,  158. 

Past  Achievements  in  China  the 
Foundation  and  the  Guaranty  of 
Future  Success,  231-234. 

Pastors,  missionary,  need  of,  73. 

Pasumalai  College,  103. 

Paton,  Dr.,  missionary  to  New  Heb- 
rides, 28. 

Patrick,  Saint:  Missionary,  22; 
quoted,  166. 

Patteson,  Bishop,  quoted,  15,  17, 
129. 

Paul,  the  Great  Missionary  Example, 
2-18. 

Peking,  call  from,  102. 

People,  importance  of  learning  thor- 
oughly, in  Japan,  43. 

Persecution  in  Madeira,  210. 

Persia:  Hunger  for  the  Gospel  in, 
196;  number  of  churches  in,  194; 
the  geographical  centre  of  the 
Mohammedan  world,  305. 

Persian  Evangelists,  303. 

Personal  Sweetness,  The,  and  Privi- 
lege of  Evangelistic  Work,  201- 
203. 

Personnel  of  Convention,  364, 

Peter  the  Hermit,  105, 


INDEX. 


371 


Pierson,  Rev.  Dr. :  The  Evangeliza- 
tion of  the  World  in  this  Genera- 
tion, 105-115;  41;  quoted,  40,  125. 

Pilgrim's  Progress,  166. 

PoIhiII=Turner,  Hr.,  85. 

Political  Situation,  The,  of  the  Levant 
as  Related  to  Mission  Work,  300- 
312. 

Pope,  Alexander,  (jnoted,  20. 

Porter,  Hary  H.,  249. 

Practical  Preparation,  The,  of  tlie 
Volunteer,  26-32. 

Prayer,  an  instance  of  mental  help 
by,  37. 

Prayer  Book,  the  best,  121. 

Preaching,  foolishness  of,  illusti-ated, 
94,  95. 

Preparation :  Delay  for  full,  no  loss, 
24;  for  material  needs,  27,  28; 
physical,  29. 

Presbyterian  Board,  312. 

Presbyterian  Church,  200. 

Present  Crisis,  The,  in  Japanese  Mis- 
sions, 257-261. 

Present  Evangelistic  Outlook,  The, 
in  the  Levant,  304-309. 

Price,  Effie  K.,  How  Can  We  Promote 
the  Student  Volunteer  Movement? 
345. 

Progress,  three  years  of,  62-82. 

Q. 

Questions  for  Missionary  Candidates, 
10. 

R. 

Rabbinowitz,  Joseph,  story  of  his 
conversion,  326-328. 

Rameses  11.,  285. 

Reid,  Rev.  Gilbert :  China :  Iler 
Possibilities,  234-237;  Methods  in 
the  Shantung  Mission,  192-194. 

Relation  of  a  Local  Secretary  to  the 
Movement,  345. 

Religions,  heathen,  158. 

Reformation,  Christian,  in  tlie  Ori- 
ent, 296-299. 

Resolution  of  Members  of  Instruc- 
tors' Conference,  320-321. 

Results,  Actual,  of  Education  in 
Missionary  Work,  177-181. 

Revivals  in  Colleges,  153. 

Richards,  Henry,  missionary  to  tlie 
Congo,  94. 

Richmond,  Legh,   166. 

Rise  and  Progress  of  Religion  in  the 
Soul,  166. 

Rising  Movement,  The,  Among  the 
Low  Caste  People  of  India,  200, 
201. 

Robert  College,  304-311. 

Rohilicund,  The  Work  in,  275-278. 

Roman  Catholicism,  its  practical 
working,  40. 


Roman  Catholics,  activity  of,  158. 

Roman  Empire,  its  influence  over 
Egypt,  285. 

Root,  Dr.  Pauline,  Women  in  Medi- 
cal Missionary  Work,  220-223. 

Roots,  Logan  Herbert,  254. 

Rose,  Rev.  Dr.  A.  T. :  The  Work 
Among  tlie  Burmese,  278-281; 
Work  Among  the  Karens,  198, 199. 

s. 

Sailer,  T.  H.  P.,  296,  313. 

Salvation  Army:  City  work  of,  10; 
208'. 

Sampson,  Rev.  T.  R.,  309-312. 

Sanders,  Prof.  Frank  K.,  315,  321. 

Saunby,  Dr.  John  W.,  261-264. 

Savin,  Rev.  fir.,  151. 

Schereschewsky,  331. 

Schools  of  Japan,  174-176. 

Schwartz,  122. 

Scott,  Hr.,  294. 

Sectional  Ct>nferences,  169,  346. 

Shanghai,  34,  61;  Conference  at,  231. 

Shantung  Mission,  5;  Methods  in, 
192. 

Shaw,  Rev.  S.  J.,  335. 

Shi'ites,  305. 

Shimmen,  fir.,  250. 

Significance,  Tlie,  and  Work  of  the 
Volunteer  Band,  87-90. 

Silver,  Hiss.,  345. 

Sketch,  A,  of  Medical  Missions  in 
China,  205-207. 

Smith,  niss,  292. 

Smith,  Rev.  Dr.  Judson:  On  Behalf 
of  Missionary  Boards  and  Socie- 
ties, 153-155;  the  Intellectual 
Preparation  of  the  Volunteer,  19- 
26;  the  One  End  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Work,    171;  quoted,   156. 

Smith,  Stanley,  83,  84,  190. 

Smith,  W.  Harley,  How  May  We 
Secure  Medical  Volunteers  for 
Missionary  Service  ?  216-219. 

Soudan,  popiilation  of,  284, 

South  Africa :  Branch  of  Volunteer 
Movement  in,  74;  Cape  General 
Mission  of,  42. 

Speer,  Robert  E. :  Paul,  the  Great 
Missionary  Example,  2-18;  Why 
We  Believe  in  the  Student  Vol- 
unteer Movement,  115-117; 
162-167 ;  quoted, 187,  215. 

Spirit,  The,  in  His  Work  and  Prepar- 
tion  for  the  Missionary  Enter- 
prise, 119-130. 

Spiritual  Need,  The,  and  Claims  of 
China,  46-61. 

Spiritual  Preparation,  The,  of  the 
Volunteer,  32-39. 

Spurgeon,  quoted,  109. 

Strategic  Import,  The,  of  Missions 
in  the  Levant,  299-304. 

Studd,  Charles,  83,  84. 


372 


INDEX. 


Student  Volunteer  Missionary  Union 
of  Great  Britain:  Organization  of, 
74;  85;  157. 

Student  Volunteer  Movement  :  A 
force  to  be  recognized,  315;  begin- 
ning of,  125  ;  contributions  of 
money  through,  72  ;  educational 
campaign  of,  71;  extension  to  the 
colleges  of  the  Pacific  coast,  71; 
influence  of,  74;  international 
conventions  of,  65;  motto  of,  159; 
needs  of,  81;  perils  of,  60-70;  pol- 
icy of,  77-81 ;  practical  relation  of 
Christian  Endeavor  Societies  with, 
334;  problems  of,  65-(i6;  purpose 
of,  62 ;  relation  to  w^omen's  boards, 
223;  results  of,  70-74;  solidarity  of 
its  work  with  that  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  and 
the  Young  Women's  Christian 
Association,  344;  testimony  of  in- 
dividual Christian  life  in  favor  of, 
117;  the  field  and  its  cultivation, 
63;  watch-cry  i>f,  81, 156;  work  in 
state  universities,  74,  75. 

Student  Volunteer  Movement,  The 
Relation  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and 
Y.  W.  C.  A.  to  the,  344. 

Stundists,  persecution  of,  328. 

Sunnites,  305. 

Sutherland,  Rev.  Dr.  Alex.,  183. 

Syria,  village  schools  in,  180. 


T. 

Tai=Ping  Rebellion,  246. 

Taylor,  Bishop,  quoted,  165. 

Taylor,  Rev.  J.  Hudson :  A  Medical 
Missionary's  Personal  Experi- 
ence, 207-210  ;  the  Opportunity 
for  tlae  Evangelist  in  China,  247- 
249;  the  Spiritual  Need  and 
Claims  of  China,  46-54;  the  Spir- 
itual Preparation  of  the  Volun- 
teer, 32-39;  148-150;  quoted,  111, 
190,  197,  233. 

Taylor,  firs.  J.  Hudson,  253. 

Tennyson,  Alfred,  91. 

Thackwell,  Rev.  Reese,  The  Rising 
Movement  Among  the  Low  Caste 
People  of  India,  200,  201;  40,  281. 

Thoburn,  Bishop,  quoted,  14,  276. 

Three  Years  of  Progress,  62-82. 

Torpedo  Service  College,  245. 

Translations  of  the  Bible  into  Ko- 
rean, 265 ;  of  the  Bible  in  the  Le- 
vant, 303;  three,  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament into  Hebrew,  325. 

Transmigration,  Doctrine  of,  279. 

Trench,  Archbishop,  quoted,  11. 

Turkish  Empire:  Condition  of,  309; 
religious  and  political  centre  of 
Islam,  301;  spread  of  education 
in,  180. 

Turkish  Mission  Aid  Society,  311. 


u. 

Unity,  Christian,  151. 
University,    EI=Harsa:     Census  of, 
291;  study  of  Koran  in,  291. 

V. 

Yah  I,  Dean,  351. 

Verbal  insi)iration,  33. 

Victoria,  Queen,  250. 

Vision  of  Jesus  Christ  essential  to 
efficient  service,  16,  44,  52. 

Volunteer,  Our  Relation  to  the  Indi- 
vidual, 316-318. 

Volunteer:  Declaration,  162;  intellec- 
tual preparation  of,  19,  26 ;  practi- 
cal preparation  of,  26-32;  spirit- 
ual preparation  of.  32-39. 

Volunteer  Band,  The,  Significance 
and  Work  of,  87. 

Volunteer  Movement,  The,  Among 
Students  in  Non-Christian  Lands, 
96-104. 

Volunteer  Movement,  Our  Relation 
to  the  Wise  Development  of,  319. 

w. 

Wainwright,  Dr.  S.  H.,  Schools  of 
Japan,  174-176. 

Walton,  Spencer :  Fulfillment  of 
prophecy  in  Africa,  286-288;  42; 
191;  290-292. 

Walton,  firs.  Spencer,  Watch-cry 
of   the   Movement,   81. 

Wesley,  John,  qvioted,  97;  124;  242. 

Westcott,  Bishop,  quoted,  144. 

Westminster  Assembly's  Catechism 
in  Syria,  179. 

White,  J.  C,  63,  103,  159. 

Wilberforce,  William,  166. 

Wilder,  Robert  P. :  Success  of  his 
work  in  British  universities,  84; 
work  in  Great  Britain  and  Scan- 
dinavia, 74;  quoted,  75,  138;  159. 

Williams,  H.  O.,  How  Can  We  Pro- 
mote the  Student  Volunteer  Move- 
ment? 345. 

Williams,  John,  17. 

Willis,  Prof.,  250. 

Wilkins,  Rev.  Dr.  F.  L.,  Mission- 
ary Studies  of  the  Baptist  Young 
People's  Union,  340-343. 

Wilson,  Peachy  T.,  The  Work  in 
Rohilicund,  275-278. 

Wishard,  Luther  D.,  The  Volun- 
teer Movement  Among  Students 
in  Non-Christian  Lands,  96-104; 
270. 

Wishard,  Hrs.  L.  D.,  220. 

Woman  and  Her  Wrongs  in  China, 
239-242. 

Woman's  Work,  Conference  on,  220- 
230. 


INDEX. 


373 


Woman's  Work  in  Japan,  200,  207. 
Women's  Boards  and  the  Volunteer 

Movement,  223,  224. 
Women     in    Educational    Work     on 

P\>reign  Fields,  220-228. 
Women  in  Medical  Missionary  Work, 

220-223. 
Work  Among  the  Depressed  Classes, 

270-272. 
World's  Fair,  121. 
Worrall,  Rev.  John  H.,  30. 

X. 

Xavier,  Francis,  00. 

Y. 

Young  Men's  Christian   Association: 
college  dei)artment  of,  in  Ceylon, 


102;  its  service  to  the  Student 
Volunteer  Movement,  04;  its  work 
in  Japan,  90,  100. 

Young  Men's  and  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association  Conference, 
344-340. 

Young  People's  Christian  Union  of 
the  United  Presbyterian  Church, 
.33.0. 

Young  People's  Society  Conference, 
333-343. 

Young  Women's  Christian  Associa- 
tion: achievements  of,  08;  its  ser- 
vice to  the  Student  Volunteer 
Movement,  74. 

z. 

Ziegenbalg,  Bartholomew,  122. 
Zinzendorf,  122. 


MISSIONARY  LITERATURE. 


PUBLICATIONS   OF    THE   STUDENT   VOLUNTEER   nOVEHENT. 


The  Student  Volunteer  Series, 

1.  History  of  tlic  Stiuk'nt  Volunteer  Moveineut  lor  Foreign  Mis- 

sions.    By  Jolin  11.  Mott 10  cts. 

2.  Shall  I  go  ?     Tliouglits  for  Girls.     By  Miss  Grace  E.  Wilder    .      5  cts. 

3.  Prayer  and  Missions.     By  Robert  E.  Speer  5  cts. 

4.  The  Volunteer  Band.     By  Kobert  E.  Speer 5  cts. 

5.  The  Self-Perpetuation  of  the  Volunteer  Band.     By  J.  Camp- 

bell White  .  o  cts. 

().     Ten  Lessons  on  tlie  Bible  and  Missions.  By  J.  Campbell  White      5  cts. 

7.  The  Volunteer  Band  Meeting.     Not  yet  issued. 

8.  The  Bible  and  Missions.     By  Robert  P.  Wilder     .    .  o  cts. 

9.  Clnistian  Missions,    and  the  Highest  Use  of  Wealth.      By 

President  Merrill  E.  Gates,  L.L.D..  of  Amherst Sets. 

In  (juantities,  number  1  is  sold  at  80  cents  per  dozen,  or  $0.00  per  hundred; 
numbers  2  to  9,  40  cents  per  dozen,  or  $3.00  per  luindred.  Sample  sets  (one 
copy  of  each  number  as  far  as  issued),  30  cents. 

The  Student  Volunteer.  Tlie  official  organ  of  the  Student  Volun- 
teer Movement.  Published  monthly  during  the  school 
year.     Per  year  in  advance 25  cts. 

The  riissionary  Fact=Record  Book.  A  224  page  book  of  finely 
finished  paper,  well  bound  in  leather.  With  special  Fact- 
Record  Index.     Of  convenient  size  for  the  pocket (i7  cts. 

Report  of  the  First  International  Convention  of  the  Student 
Volunteer   Hovement,      Held   at  Cleveland,    1891.     8vo. 

Paper 25  cts. 

A  complete  report,  of  218  pages,  giving  in  full  the  addresses  and  proceedings. 

The  student  riissionary  Enterprise.  Addresses  and  Discussions 
of  the  Second  International  Convention  of  the  Stiulent  Vol- 
unteer Movement,  Held  at  Detroit,  1894.  Royal  8vo.  400  pp. 

Bound  in  Cloth,  with  Gilt  Top 1.50 

Postage  included  in  prices  above  given. 

All  books  shown  at  the  Educational  Exhibit  of  Missionary  liiterature 
at  Detroit  may  be  obtained,  liy  Students,  through  this  olHce.  A  catalogue 
giving  the  greatly  reduced  prices  at  which  these  books  will  be  supplied  may 
be  had  free  of  charge  upon  application. 

Lists  of  model  libraries  from  prices  ranging  from  $10  to  $50  are  given 
in  this  catalogue  —  the  libraries  being  of  the  character  that  were  shown  at 
Detroit. 

Only  the  books  named  are  carried  in  stock,  but  inquiries  for  others  will 
receive  prompt  attention. 

Addeess  : 

H.  B.  Sharman,  Cor.  Secretary, 

80  Institute  Place,  Chicago,  III. 


p„„c,,o(.   Th.oloq.cal  Semnary-Speer  Library 


1    10 


2  01127  7516 


Date  Due 

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